tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/un-sustainable-development-goals-sdg-91617/articlesUN sustainable development goals (SDG) – The Conversation2024-02-07T20:46:33Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2208322024-02-07T20:46:33Z2024-02-07T20:46:33ZDemography and reproductive rights are environmental issues: Insights from sub-Saharan Africa<p>Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is growing <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/wpp2022_summary_of_results.pdf">three times faster</a> than the rest of the world with an average of 4.6 births per woman in 2021. By comparison, <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/91f0015m/91f0015m2024001-eng.htm">the fertility rate in Canada was 1.3 births per woman in 2022</a>. </p>
<p>The region is projected to continue to be the fastest growing in the world, with a population increasing from 1.2 billion in 2021 to 2.1 billion in 2050. </p>
<p>Sustained and rapid population growth has deep implications for development, <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/undesa_pd_2022_policy_brief_population_growth.pdf">exacerbating social, economic and environmental challenges</a> from food insecurity and gender inequity to environmental degradation. </p>
<p>At the same time, Sub-Saharan Africa also has a <a href="https://www.populationinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Population-and-Climate-Change-Vulnerability.pdf">disproportionate vulnerability to climate change and environmental degradation</a>. </p>
<p>It is critical that population dynamics and reproductive health be at the forefront of ongoing environmental discussions.</p>
<h2>Population dynamics and environment</h2>
<p>There are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat8680">many just and humane ways to slow the pace of rapid population growth while also respecting human rights and the need for economic development</a>. Key to this goal is advancing reproductive rights, gender equity and education. </p>
<p>Advancing reproductive autonomy by ensuring that individuals have the means to choose the timing and frequency of childbearing carries significant benefits for climate change resilience and environmental sustainability. </p>
<p>As individuals are given the means to choose the number, timing and spacing of their children, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2470">they tend to have fewer children</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/africas-groundbreaking-womens-rights-treaty-turns-20-the-hits-and-misses-of-the-maputo-protocol-209607">Africa's groundbreaking women's rights treaty turns 20 - the hits and misses of the Maputo protocol</a>
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<p>It is estimated that if the United Nations’ <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/">Sustainable Development Goals</a> target for contraceptive use and education are met, global population size would decline from today’s 8 billion to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(20)30677-2">6.29 billion in 2100</a>. If not, then the United Nations medium <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/wpp2022_summary_of_results.pdf">projection of 10.3 billion appears more likely</a>. </p>
<p>Yet, despite their far-ranging implications for environmental sustainability, demographic trajectories are largely omitted or regarded as set in stone by the development and environmental communities. This makes for a missed opportunity for transformative change. </p>
<p>Discussions that highlight the negative impacts of global population growth are also often marginalized and perceived as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10042857.2016.1149296">unwarranted, alarmist, coercive and racist</a>. At the same time, it is important to remember that high birth rates should not carry the stigma of blame but instead be seen within the lens of wider socio-economic issues.</p>
<p>We live in a demographically divided world. Some regions of the planet are experiencing sustained population growth, while others are witnessing relative stability and even decline. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/drc-has-one-of-the-fastest-growing-populations-in-the-world-why-this-isnt-good-news-209420">DRC has one of the fastest growing populations in the world – why this isn't good news</a>
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<p>In this context concerns about population growth can appear to have limited global application, making it more challenging to express alarm over increasing human numbers in relation to population declines elsewhere </p>
<p>However, this does not mean that exponential human growth cannot pose concerns in some regions.</p>
<h2>Sub-Saharan perspectives</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/4481">researcher</a> in the emerging field of planetary health, I study the nexus of reproductive rights, population dynamics and environmental sustainability. </p>
<p>In collaboration with <a href="https://www.ug.edu.gh/economics/people/staff-faculty/nkechi-s-owoo">Nkechi S. Owoo</a>, from the University of Ghana, we set out to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3197/JPS.63772236595233">explore stakeholder perceptions</a> around these issues. We were surprised to learn that sub-Saharan Africans perspectives had not been individually documented, despite their unique relevance. </p>
<p>Our study included a survey and follow-up interviews with 402 participants from 42 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The results would surprise many observers who may doubt that population growth is a concern in Africa.</p>
<p>While there were geographic and gender limitations in our sample size — and more research will be required to further explore this topic — we nevertheless feel that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/world4040048">our findings</a> provide useful insights into wide-ranging public concern for population growth. Respondents overwhelmingly perceived population growth as a phenomenon representing challenges to environmental sustainability, economic and social goals, peace and security. </p>
<p>Many participants expressed the view that population dynamics ought to be integrated in policies and discussions aimed at improving or preserving the quality of the environment. One respondent in particular stated that </p>
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<p>“population dynamics should always be put at the forefront whenever climate and the environment are being discussed”. </p>
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<p>A small number of participants argued that population growth was not a driver of environmental degradation and climate change, which was attributed to the excessive consumption habits and disproportionate responsibility of the Global North.</p>
<p>The large majority of our respondents, however, held a different view. They felt that the disproportionate role of consumption did not preclude acknowledging the role of population growth in generating environmental degradation. </p>
<p>A survey participant from South Africa, for example, stated that: </p>
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<p>“The cumulative impact of 1 billion low per-capita footprints still equals a high impact. This is not to discount the high impact of people that may have lower fertility rates and higher per-capita footprints — who are as important to address.”</p>
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<p>Participants overwhelmingly felt reproductive health and rights, alongside education and women empowerment considerations, ought to be integrated in environmental sustainability discussions and policies. </p>
<p>They agreed with the notion that contraception and family planning services can have a positive impact on environmental sustainability. They also agreed that integrating family planning as an environmental policy would contribute to accelerating much needed progress on reproductive rights and sustainability. </p>
<h2>It is time to discuss demography</h2>
<p>This study presents surprising evidence that rebuts common assumptions about the sensitivity of discussing population trends in developing countries. </p>
<p>Our survey suggests that a majority of those working in a field that is related to economic, social, or environmental development in sub-Saharan Africa consider the topic of population growth important. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘What will it take to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals?’ Produced by the United Nations.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Our study also supports the importance of amplifying the voices of people among those most exposed to rapid population growth and most vulnerable to climate change and environmental degradation. These individuals, more often than not, live in places where gender equity and access to family planning face <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40834-022-00198-5">significant challenges</a>.</p>
<p>Most of our research respondents are concerned by population growth because of its negative environmental and social implications, and wish to integrate demographic and reproductive rights and gender equity considerations in environmental discourses and policies. </p>
<p><a href="https://mahb.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/biad080.pdf">Similar calls to stabilize and gradually decrease the human population by supporting reproductive autonomy and gender equity</a> are regularly issued by leading environmental scientists, and must be prioritized to achieve the transformative change needed for sustainability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220832/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Céline Delacroix is a Senior Fellow with the Population Institute (USA), which provided financial support to pursue this research project by offering a fellowship to its authors.</span></em></p>Environmental policymakers and scholars must listen to sub-Saharan Africans’ voices and recognize the importance of population for achieving sustainable development goals.Céline Delacroix, Adjunct Professor and Senior Fellow, School of Health Sciences, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207402024-02-07T13:26:16Z2024-02-07T13:26:16ZGhana: Kumasi city’s unplanned boom is destroying two rivers – sewage, heavy metals and chemical pollution detected<p>Ghana’s urban population has <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2015/05/14/rising-through-cities-in-ghana-the-time-for-action-is-now-to-fully-benefit-from-the-gains-of-urbanization">more than tripled</a> in the past three decades, from 4 million to nearly 14 million people. Competition for land in cities has increased among various land uses. These trends have led to encroachment in ecologically sensitive areas such as wetlands.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Kumasi">Kumasi</a>, Ghana’s second largest city, has a high level of encroachment and this has led to the pollution of water bodies. Kumasi’s population growth has been rapid because of its central and strategic location and its functions as a major commercial, traditional and administrative centre. In 2022, the <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/kumasi-population">population of Kumasi</a> was 3,630,326 with a growth rate of 4.02%. The city’s growth puts pressure on its natural assets.</p>
<p>As scholars of urban planning and chemistry, we conducted a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19463138.2022.2146121">study</a> in the <a href="https://www.luspa.gov.gh/media/plan/EIJR13206_Greater_Kumasi_01.pdf">greater Kumasi metropolis</a> to understand the extent of encroachment and pollution of two rivers, Subin and Wiwi. We wanted to understand how cities can be developed and functional without destroying natural resources. We also wanted to know more about the extent of water pollution, land-use dynamics and water resources regulations, and how they influence the quality of water resources. </p>
<p>We found that people were building homes in informal settlements along the rivers. Liquid and solid waste was being dumped into the rivers. People were using land on the river banks for agriculture and industrial activities, which had a negative effect on water quality. </p>
<p>We recommend that the city authorities monitor what is happening better and do more to prevent degradation of Kumasi’s water bodies.</p>
<h2>Effects of land use on the quality of water bodies</h2>
<p>We discovered that, in the greater Kumasi metropolis, more land alongside the rivers was being used for industrial, residential and commercial purposes than for green spaces. City authorities were ineffective in controlling development in these areas despite the fact that <a href="https://www.luspa.gov.gh/media/document/ZONING_GUIDELINES_final_DESIGN.pdf">Ghana’s zoning guidelines</a> say there should be a buffer of 100 feet (30 metres) along water bodies. </p>
<p>Land values in Kumasi are increasing due to rapid urban growth, but values are lower for wetlands. This difference has contributed to city residents building in wetlands. Also, the intense pressure of urbanisation on the available land has resulted in a <a href="https://www.modernghana.com/news/483045/wetlands-in-kumasi-metropolis-under-siege.html">high level of encroachment</a> in wetlands. The study revealed that 35.4% of the land uses within the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/River-Wiwi-and-some-other-streams-that-drain-the-Kumasi-Metropolis-Department-of_fig2_257939998">River Wiwi</a> buffers were residential development. </p>
<p>This research further confirmed that the Wiwi and Subin rivers had been heavily polluted with faecal coliforms over the years. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/nursing-and-health-professions/fecal-coliform">Coliform counts</a> are an indicator of possible faecal contamination, and reflect hygiene standards. </p>
<p>The mean of the coliform counts surpassed the limits of 400 total coliforms/100ml and 10 faecal coliforms/100ml allowed by the <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9241546743">World Health Organization standard</a>. The two rivers are extremely polluted with faecal matter. </p>
<p>The research also confirmed that heavy metals in the water bodies were above the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK535301/table/ch8.tab2/">WHO’s recommended standard</a> of 0.01mg/litre. For example, the average concentration of lead (Pb) recorded in the Wiwi and Subin rivers was 0.018–0.031 mg/l and 0.035–0.055, respectively. Exposure to lead is <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health">dangerous</a> to health. </p>
<p>As a result of limited investment in sewage plants, most of the city’s untreated waste water is discharged into the surface water bodies. This has implications for the quality and sustainability of these water bodies. </p>
<p>The study also showed that some city residents dump their <a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Resolving-dying-water-bodies-Dealing-with-waste-pollutants-through-lucrative-means-569358">waste near the city’s wetlands</a>. During heavy rains, the refuse runs off into the water, affecting water quality and flow. </p>
<p>The inability of city authorities to enforce land-use regulations and legislation has allowed people to carry out agricultural activities close to the rivers. The use of agrochemicals threatens aquatic habitats. Chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers are likely to seep or be washed into the rivers. The use of polluted water from the rivers for irrigation also poses a threat to human health. </p>
<p>The industrial activities along the water bodies include washing bays, auto-mechanical activities, welding and wood processing. These pose a threat of chemical pollution due to likely seepage of petroleum products into the water.</p>
<h2>Time for Kumasi to wake up</h2>
<p>The development of sustainable cities relies on the ability of city authorities to plan for social, environmental and economic growth. Urban growth can coexist with natural resources if human activities located near water bodies don’t threaten their quality and continued existence. </p>
<p>Our study shows that Kumasi has developed with little regard for its natural assets. This is a threat to the city’s sustainability. City authorities ought to put in place measures to clean the water bodies and convert buffer areas into parks and green spaces. Environmentally friendly urban agriculture can also be promoted along the water bodies. </p>
<p>Activities such as disposal of liquid and solid waste must be stopped. <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/explainers/what-is-the-polluter-pays-principle/#:%7E:text=The%20%27polluter%20pays%27%20principle%20is,human%20health%20or%20the%20environment">The “polluter must pay” principle</a> must be applied to people who contravene environmental regulations. </p>
<p>Urban centres in Ghana need a water resource management policy. Regulatory institutions such as the Physical Planning Department and the <a href="https://www.epa.gov.gh/epa/">Environmental Protection Agency</a> should be restructured and equipped to respond to emerging complex environmental problems in cities. There should be continuous environmental monitoring and regulations must be strictly enforced. The <a href="https://westindiacommittee.org/historyheritageculture/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Contents-and-Introduction.pdf">River Thames Policing model</a> in the UK can be adopted to ensure the continuous monitoring of the water bodies. To monitor and enforce the zoning regulations, city authorities and policy-makers must invest in technologies such as drones. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.luspa.gov.gh/media/document/ZONING_GUIDELINES_final_DESIGN.pdf">Zoning Guideline and Planning Standards</a> provide standard setback average distances for a buffer zone of 50–100 feet from the water bodies. We recommend that the buffer should rather be 100 feet (30 metres) away from the wetland. The wetlands are an important <a href="https://www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/library/services_00_e.pdf">ecosystem service</a> that needs to be protected. Ecologically sensitive areas that are 100 feet away from wetlands should be compulsorily acquired as natural assets for the public interest.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220740/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The inability of city authorities to enforce land-use regulations has allowed people to carry out ecologically unfriendly activities along the water bodies.Stephen Appiah Takyi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)Owusu Amponsah, Senior Lecturer, Department of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2220962024-02-02T16:25:24Z2024-02-02T16:25:24ZEight things grassroots football clubs can do to reach net zero<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572833/original/file-20240201-29-eyaceu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">De Montfort University students volunteering at Leicester Nirvana Football Club to promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Charlton</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Germany and England might be bitter rivals when it comes international football – but some of their amateur clubs have found common ground leading the charge to tackle climate change in sport.</p>
<p>I’m investigating the sustainability tactics of grassroots teams including Leicester Nirvana, Germany’s Eintracht Peitz and International Berlin. As well as sharing expertise with a global network of amateur clubs, the Net Zero Football Project I’m working on at De Montfort University is researching how best to enable coaches, players and their families to play a blinder for the planet. This will develop into a blueprint for teams wanting to transform a game which both contributes to, and is impacted by climate change.</p>
<p>Often, clubs are at the forefront of environmental impacts. A women’s club in the Gambia, Yakaar Academy, is feeling the effects of a changing planet as extreme weather <a href="https://www.afdb.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/gambia_cfr_2022.pdf">impacts</a> agricultural production, the economy and health in the country.</p>
<p>Leicester Nirvana’s pitch was submerged in the <a href="https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/flooding-leicester-expected-subside-county-9012791">recent UK floods</a>, meaning football was cancelled for weeks leaving the kids of Highfields estate, one of the poorest postcodes in the country, with little to do. And clubs in Germany are busy offering solace from the backlash of a stifling economy, the cost of living crisis and growth of the far-right populists and climate change deniers – the Alternative for Germany (AfD) – amidst plans for a green energy transition.</p>
<p>Football clubs have the potential to bring people together to tackle the climate crisis collectively and Green Football Weekend (3-5 February) is a time to kick off with eight simple ways improve your club’s sustainability credentials.</p>
<h2>1. Recruit a captain</h2>
<p>Appoint a volunteer sustainability officer to oversee the club’s plans. They can create a sustainability checklist of things to do after matches and training like turning off the lights and taps, or putting the recycling out. Ideally, this person should report to a sustainability committee that involves managers and players. Leicester Nirvana has its own UN Sustainable Development Goal <a href="http://www.leicesternirvana.com/updates">champion</a>, Ivan Liburd. As coach and part of the management team, he finds ways to promote climate action amongst players, tackle racism and violence in the community while ensuring the clubhouse lights are switched off when he goes home.</p>
<h2>2. Buy in bulk</h2>
<p>Make simple switches and show others how to protect the planet and save money. Buy recycled toilet paper, install LED lightbulbs that are more energy-efficient than <a href="https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/lighting/">conventional bulbs</a> and wash team kits with biodegradable washing powder. Harness the club’s buying power to make sustainability demands on suppliers. At International Berlin, kit companies must meet certain criteria if they want to tender to supply their squads. As a big club, that can mean substantial business for the right sportswear brand if they commit to the necessary changes. </p>
<h2>3. Park the bus</h2>
<p>In recent <a href="https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2023/november/dmu-researchers-discover-exactly-how-local-football-club-produces-carbon-emissions.aspx#:%7E:text=Dr%20Ozawa%2DMeida%2C%20a%20Senior,and%20in%20less%20extent%20to">emissions tests</a> done at Leicester Nirvana, we found team and fan travel to be the one of the largest contributors to the club’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Where possible use a minibus or share cars to cut costs and reduce emissions when heading to training or games. Eintracht Peitz invested in a minibus for its team with club logos and sponsors emblazened on the side, so it’s hard to miss on match days. </p>
<h2>4. Put more plants on plates</h2>
<p>Reducing meat and dairy consumption <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-014-1104-5?sa_campaign=email/event/articleAuthor/onlineFirst&error=cookies_not_supported&code=69712fa0-329b-4333-abc2-85ddccfe122d">cuts carbon footprints</a> massively. Encourage players to go vegan whenever possible. Buy local produce where you can, but be mindful it’s <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local">important to consider</a> what you eat rather than just where it is from. Install a compost bin for food waste. Many drinks sold at amateur football games are unhealthy and come in plastic bottles. Follow the lead of Leicester Nirvana and encourage the use of reusable bottles for all players.</p>
<h2>5. Green your club</h2>
<p>When a player joins Eintracht Peitz, they’re handed a spade and invited to plant a tree as part of their <a href="https://klimakids-peitz.de/en/start/">growing with the club</a> programme. While most urban green spaces are not managed with nature in mind, lots of towns and cities make space for nature in <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/8-cities-rewilding-their-urban-spaces/">innovative ways</a>. Enhancing biodiversity within the club grounds is a big win. By rewilding some of the green spaces beside the pitch, unused corners and verges can become a haven for wildlife.</p>
<h2>6. Communicate creatively about climate</h2>
<p>Lots of work needs to be done to educate, inspire and empower players through environmental action. Media messaging and discourse can create feelings of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8431103/">eco-anxiety and helplessness</a>. Use resources from environmental charity <a href="https://climateoutreach.org/">Climate Outreach</a> to get positive messages across in creative ways. Encourage coaches and players to sign up to <a href="https://carbonliteracy.com/">Carbon Literacy training</a> or take part in a fun <a href="https://climatefresk.org/">Climate Fresk workshop</a>. Birmingham County Football Association offers carbon literacy sessions for its <a href="https://www.birminghamfa.com/news/2023/feb/17/carbon-literacy-course">local clubs</a>.</p>
<h2>7. Shout about your success</h2>
<p>Lead by example and show others that there are alternative ways to run a football club. Encourage players to be advocates for the planet. Share what you are doing through social media and invite the local press to cover your stories. </p>
<h2>8. Goals win games</h2>
<p>Set clear targets for the coming season. To find inspiration and access free resources that outline key goals, join sustainable sports networks, such as the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/footballforthegoals">UN Football for the Goals</a>, <a href="https://pledgeball.org/">Pledgeball</a> and De Montfort University’s <a href="https://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/themes/net-zero/index.aspx">Net Zero Football Project</a>.</p>
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Charlton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By inspiring collective action, amateur football clubs can drive positive behaviour change and embed sustainability tactics in grassroots sport.Mark Charlton, Net Zero Research Theme Director, De Montfort UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2225112024-02-02T11:04:44Z2024-02-02T11:04:44ZGovernments spend US$22 billion a year helping the fishing industry empty our oceans. This injustice must end<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572830/original/file-20240201-27-sdoziy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C0%2C1370%2C770&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/drone-view-of-fishing-trawler-on-sea-5829126/">Pok Rie/Pexel</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Overfishing has dire consequences for ocean health and for the millions of people who depend on fish for food and wellbeing. Globally, catch has been steadily <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10244">declining</a> since the 1990s. It’s a trend that’s likely to continue if we fail to act now.</p>
<p>Nearly all governments, including Australia’s, subsidise their fishing industries. Financial support comes in many forms, from taxpayer-funded fuel to reduced boat-building costs. These subsidies are harmful because they encourage overfishing. Some of the most environmentally damaging and least efficient fishing activities, such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308597X09001663">bottom trawling</a> and <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.aat2504">distant water fishing</a>, would become unprofitable and cease without government <a href="https://archives.nereusprogram.org/ask-an-expert-why-is-the-global-fishing-industry-given-35-billion-in-subsidies-each-year/">subsidies</a>. </p>
<p>Scientists worldwide are rallying for stringent regulations to eliminate harmful fisheries subsidies, which totalled a whopping <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X19303677">US$22 billion</a> in 2018. Safeguarding the ocean will strengthen food security and allow more equitable distribution of marine resources.</p>
<p>Trade ministers from around the world are set to convene later this month in Abu Dhabi at a key meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In an <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44183-024-00042-0">open letter</a> published today, we are among 36 marine experts calling on the WTO to adopt ambitious regulations promoting fisheries sustainability and equity, and to eliminate harmful fisheries subsidies.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/putting-an-end-to-billions-in-fishing-subsidies-could-improve-fish-stocks-and-ocean-health-163470">Putting an end to billions in fishing subsidies could improve fish stocks and ocean health</a>
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<h2>A long-awaited agreement</h2>
<p>International pressure from scientists helped to broker an earlier agreement on fishing subsidies, which is yet to be ratified. </p>
<p>In October 2021, 300 experts published an <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm1680">article in Nature</a> calling for an end to harmful subsidies in the fishing sector. </p>
<p>After decades of fruitless negotiations, the WTO finally reached an <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/rulesneg_e/fish_e/fish_factsheet_e.pdf">agreement on fisheries subsidies</a> in June 2022. </p>
<p>Once ratified by two-thirds of WTO members, this agreement will partially address the United Nations <a href="https://indicators.report/targets/14-6/">Sustainable Development Goal Target 14.6</a> to eliminate harmful subsidies.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572831/original/file-20240201-17-tiyvdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a suit brings down the gavel after agreement was reached on fisheries subsidies at the WTO meeting in 2022." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572831/original/file-20240201-17-tiyvdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572831/original/file-20240201-17-tiyvdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572831/original/file-20240201-17-tiyvdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572831/original/file-20240201-17-tiyvdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572831/original/file-20240201-17-tiyvdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572831/original/file-20240201-17-tiyvdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572831/original/file-20240201-17-tiyvdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The gavel goes down after members reached an agreement on fisheries subsidies, Geneva, 17 June 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/mc12_e/photos_e.htm">WTO/Jay Louvion</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>Unfortunately, while this agreement is historic, it is narrow. It only prohibits member governments from financing illegal fishing activities and the exploitation of already overfished stocks. But it’s obvious illegal fishing should be banned and the focus on overfished stocks is too little, too late. </p>
<p>Experts argue the agreement fails to specifically address harmful subsidies across global fisheries and as such only affects a <a href="https://oceana.org/blog/the-wto-agreement-saves-face-but-does-it-save-fish/">trivial component</a> of subsidy-driven exploitation. The subsidies that reduce operating costs and increase fishing capacity, allowing vessels to travel further and remain at sea longer, remain in place. </p>
<h2>Fisheries subsidies affect more than just fish</h2>
<p>Scientists have been <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00451-1">sounding the alarm</a> for decades. Many published studies document the <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0020239">destabilising effects</a> of fisheries subsidies on ecosystems. In addition to impacting biodiversity and ecosystems, subsidies also increase the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921800921001154">CO₂ emissions</a> that contribute to climate change.</p>
<p>More recently, studies have also applied a social perspective to this issue. Seafood lifts millions of people out of hunger, malnutrition and poverty. Yet more people will lose a secure <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/534317a">source of food and nutrients</a> if fish stocks continue to decline due to industrial overfishing. </p>
<p>Research shedding light on the concept of “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X20302529">equity</a>” shows subsidies don’t just harm the ocean, they also affect human <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/5-ways-harmful-fisheries-subsidies-impact-coastal-communities">communities</a>. These communities are largely in developing countries which are rarely the source of harmful fisheries subsidies. Rather, their waters are exploited by <a href="https://oceana.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/OceanaDWF_FinalReport.pdf">foreign vessels</a> supported by wealthy governments’ fisheries subsidies.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572832/original/file-20240201-25-bknp4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Person wearing gloves, bending down to handle drying squid on a fish net" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572832/original/file-20240201-25-bknp4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572832/original/file-20240201-25-bknp4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572832/original/file-20240201-25-bknp4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572832/original/file-20240201-25-bknp4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572832/original/file-20240201-25-bknp4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572832/original/file-20240201-25-bknp4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572832/original/file-20240201-25-bknp4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Fisheries contribute to livelihoods and food security of millions of people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-drying-squid-on-fishnet-13243896/">Jimmy Liao/Pexel</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Fisheries subsidies foster unfair competition not only among countries but also between industrial and community led fishing fleets. In the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44183-023-00031-9">Indian Ocean</a>, the level of subsidies provided to industrial fisheries corresponds to the amount of seafood exported to international markets, largely supplying rich and food-secure countries. This shows governments are deliberately empowering their industrial fleets to fish for seafood largely exported and consumed elsewhere, instead of sustaining fisheries providing food for locals. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fisheries-subsidies-fuel-ocean-depletion-and-hurt-coastal-communities-142260">Fisheries subsidies fuel ocean depletion and hurt coastal communities</a>
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<h2>The good, the bad and the ugly</h2>
<p>While most nations contribute to harmful subsidies, <a href="https://oceana.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/994812/Oceana_Summary6-22.pdf">ten nations</a> are responsible for 70% of this unsustainable financing. Chief among them are China, Japan and the European Union, reflecting the significant size of their distant water fishing fleets that typically access the resources of less-developed nations.</p>
<p>In contrast, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X19303677?via%3Dihub">Australia</a> contributes only 0.1% of global harmful subsidies. Only 6% of Australia’s annual US$400 million in fisheries subsidies is considered harmful. While Australia should give attention to its ongoing annual taxpayer contribution of US$25 million to the fishing sector, it is well placed to demonstrate global leadership on how fishing can deliver sustainable and equitable outcomes without harmful subsidies.</p>
<h2>An essential opportunity</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/mc13_e/mc13_e.htm">second wave</a> of negotiations on fisheries subsidies is expected during the WTO Ministerial Conference this February in Abu Dhabi. This conference represents an invaluable opportunity to better protect the ocean. </p>
<p>In anticipation of this meeting, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44183-024-00042-0">we are urging nations</a> to adopt more ambitious regulations that eliminate harmful subsidies, prioritising fisheries sustainability and ocean equity. </p>
<p>Harmful fisheries subsidies are not only unsustainable but profoundly unfair. Based on the extensive body of evidence, the WTO should agree to eliminate harmful subsidies once and for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222511/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vania Andreoli received funding for her PhD research from the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and The Jock Clough Marine Foundation through the Oceans Institute Robson and Robertson Award. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dirk Zeller supervises Vania Andreoli’s PhD, so his lab has indirectly received funding for this doctoral research from the Australian Government and the Jock Clough Marine Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Meeuwig supervises Vania Andreoli's PhD so her lab has indirectly received funding for this doctoral research from the Australian Government and the Jock Clough Marine Foundation. </span></em></p>Governments all over the world are propping up overfishing. Now scientists have penned an open letter calling on trade ministers to implement stricter regulations against harmful fisheries subsidies.Vania Andreoli, PhD Candidate, The University of Western AustraliaDirk Zeller, Professor & Director, Sea Around Us - Indian Ocean, The University of Western AustraliaJessica Meeuwig, Wen Family Chair in Conservation, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2126552023-12-01T17:48:53Z2023-12-01T17:48:53ZSustainability schemes deployed by business most often ineffective, research reveals<p>If you ever wondered what the weather might look like should global average temperatures rise 2C degrees above pre-industrial levels – the critical warming threshold the Paris Agreement seeks to prevent us from reaching – take your mind’s eye back to Friday 17 November. That day, for the first time since records began, global surface air temperature briefly reached <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/global-temperature-exceeds-2degc-above-pre-industrial-average-17-november">2.07C above pre-industrial levels</a>. While this does not mean that we have breached the global climate agreement’s target, the frequency at which the mercury jumps over that line raises serious concern.</p>
<p>As this year’s global annual climate talks, COP28, unfolds, one could hope that this would shock governments into strengthening their climate goals. But this point in time ought to be a moment of reckoning for companies, too. The data, however, indicates otherwise, as executives <a href="https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/google-survey-shows-execs-are-downgrading-sustainability/2023/04/">lie about their environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts</a> and <a href="https://www.esgtoday.com/over-80-of-businesses-plan-to-increase-spending-on-environmental-sustainability-goals-over-next-year-honeywell/">cut green spending further</a>.</p>
<h2>20 sustainability schemes under the microscope</h2>
<p>Thankfully, there are many ways in which companies can change course, starting at an internal level with sustainability schemes. For the stake of clarity, we define the latter as organised initiatives to provide sustainability guidance to companies through principles, frameworks, guidelines, and standards. My <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bse.3511">recent research</a> with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ACoAAABi64UBNf6_jaW6OyoqD05uRyNzgUtlA9g">James Demastus</a> assessed 20 of the most used environmental sustainability schemes for their effectiveness in advancing sustainability, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the <a href="https://www.globalreporting.org/about-gri/">Global Reporting Initiative</a>, and <a href="https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/certification/">Certified B Corporations</a>.</p>
<p>The United Nations’ <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a> (SDG) are among the most famous. By contrast to other schemes, SDGs are country-level initiatives to which businesses can choose to contribute to or not. Companies are free to identify any of the 17 SDG that are aligned with its goals, such as affordable and clean energy, climate action, or sustainable cities and communities, and carry out sustainable practices that will contribute to reaching the global SDG goal. Note that participating companies are not held up to any SDG requirements or accountability frameworks, instead enjoying the warm glow of taking part in a global movement for sustainability.</p>
<p>Sustainability reporting guidelines are another type of scheme. In the EU, <a href="https://finance.ec.europa.eu/capital-markets-union-and-financial-markets/company-reporting-and-auditing/company-reporting/corporate-sustainability-reporting_en">annual sustainability reporting is required</a> for all large companies. When a company writes a sustainability report to share its sustainability activities, such as its public commitment to help achieve the SDG, they often use a reporting template, such as the <a href="https://www.globalreporting.org/">Global Reporting Initiative</a> (GRI). The GRI template has been adopted by <a href="https://www.globalreporting.org/media/11jdjwuu/brochure-global-standards-fund-2021.pdf">more than 10,000 companies worldwide</a> and is the most widely used sustainability reporting framework. The GRI specifies what <a href="https://www.globalreporting.org/media/nmmnwfsm/gri-policymakers-guide.pdf">non-financial information</a> that companies should disclose, such as energy usage, waste production, greenhouse gas emissions, impact on biodiversity, and environmental compliance. However, there are numerous other sustainability reporting templates and it is not mandatory to follow the GRI format.</p>
<p>As an example, <a href="https://www.unilever.com/files/df81b5e7-2913-4e89-90a9-18868f7355a3/unilever-gri-index-2021.pdf">Unilever</a> and <a href="https://www.audi.com/en/company/report-2022/gri-index.html">Audi</a>] both use the GRI reporting guidelines. In its environmental sustainability disclosure, Unilever’s <a href="https://www.unilever.com/files/df81b5e7-2913-4e89-90a9-18868f7355a3/unilever-gri-index-2021.pdf">2021 sustainability report</a> states that it has achieved a 64% reduction in operational carbon emissions and is pursuing a target of zero operational carbon emissions by 2030.</p>
<p>Company sustainability certification standards are another type of scheme. <a href="https://bcorporation.eu/">Certified B Corporation</a> (B Corp) guides companies to prioritise workers, community, and the environment alongside profit. The <a href="https://www.thebodyshop.com/en-us/about-us/our-story/b-corp/a/a00004">Body Shop</a> and <a href="https://tonyschocolonely.com/uk/en/our-mission/news/what-it-means-to-be-a-b-corp">Tony’s Chocolonely</a> are both Certified B Corps. B Lab, the organisation that oversees B Corp certification, reports that <a href="https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/tonys-chocolonely/">Tony’s Chocolonely</a> does quite well in meeting the B Corp standards for environmental management, air and climate impacts, and land and biodiversity impacts, but has room for improvement in the area of water impacts.</p>
<p>It should be added that there is significant overlap in environmental sustainability scheme topics and the above schemes aren’t exclusive. In my career, I’ve seen companies use half a dozen or more schemes at a time.</p>
<h2>Weak, incremental benefits</h2>
<p>Our research concluded that all 20 of the commonly used schemes in our study aligned with various forms of weak sustainability that promote incremental sustainability progress and continue to advocate for a growth-oriented economy.</p>
<p>For example, most schemes only consider a company’s internal or operational carbon emissions and ignore the supply-chain emissions generated by a company’s choice of materials, suppliers, and transit options – which they can account for <a href="https://www.epa.gov/climateleadership/supply-chain-guidance">more than 90%</a> of a company’s carbon emissions. Consider Unilever’s <a href="https://assets.unilever.com/files/92ui5egz/production/ea1cbe44628b469752b28c4ab92520bc399dc6d3.pdf">2021 sustainability report</a>, which shows the company’s internal operational emissions for the year were 710,740 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents. However, the company’s supply-chain emissions for the year amounted to 61,007,131 tonnes, or 98.8% of the company’s total (operational plus supply chain) emissions.</p>
<p>Furthermore, many schemes are vague and offer no guidance on how to reduce operational carbon emissions. Coming back to the three schemes cited at the top of the article, SDG requires countries to <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/?Text=&Goal=13&Target=">“take urgent action”</a> to address climate change, the GRI requires companies to simply <a href="https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/media/1012/gri-305-emissions-2016.pdf">calculate and report</a> greenhouse gas emissions, and B Corp certification demands that companies to <a href="https://kb.bimpactassessment.net/support/solutions/articles/43000651678-frequently-asked-questions-about-the-evolution-of-the-standards-for-b-corp-certification">“take action in accordance with science”</a>. In practice, companies are left to navigate the options available and decide on the best course of action.</p>
<p>As a result, companies often take the easy route of buying carbon offsets, which have come under great scrutiny as being <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/18/revealed-forest-carbon-offsets-biggest-provider-worthless-verra-aoe">worthless</a> or even downright polluting, instead of companies tackling the hard work of reducing internal operational emissions. Aware of such trends, the EU has recently passed <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy-environment/news/eu-not-banning-carbon-offsets-in-greenwashing-crackdown/">legislation</a> that requires companies making climate-related claims to disclose if they are slashing internal operational emissions or relying on carbon offsets.</p>
<h2>Forward-looking schemes</h2>
<p>On a positive note, our research identified five schemes that performed better than others, including frameworks centred on concepts such as the circular economy, doughnut economics or planetary boundaries, and The Natural Step framework, and the certification standard scheme ISO 14001.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/">circular economy</a> seeks to minimise companies’ carbon footprint by reducing demand for new materials, slash waste and increase products’ durability overall. Among this school of thought’s notable followers is the EU with its <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/economy/20151201STO05603/circular-economy-definition-importance-and-benefits">Circular Economy Action Plan</a>, which it expects will contribute <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:9903b325-6388-11ea-b735-01aa75ed71a1.0017.02/DOC_1&format=PDF">0.5% additional GDP growth and 700,000 new jobs</a> by 2030.</p>
<p><a href="https://doughnuteconomics.org/about-doughnut-economics">Doughnut economics</a> is a theoretical model that defines maximum ecological limits that we should not exceed and minimum basic social needs that we should meet; the goal is to stay between these two limits to maintain a flourishing and healthy planet and society. <a href="https://doughnuteconomics.org/stories/1">Amsterdam</a>, <a href="https://doughnuteconomics.org/stories/4">Copenhagen</a>, <a href="https://doughnuteconomics.org/stories/83">Brussels</a>, and <a href="https://doughnuteconomics.org/groups-and-networks/5">Berlin</a> are among its early adopters. Meanwhile, the model is proving a harder sell for businesses, who are just beginning to explore how it could help them (re)design business for sustainability.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html">Planetary boundaries</a> is a framework that identifies nine processes that regulate earth systems, such as climate change and ocean acidification, and researchers quantified those processes to determine the boundaries within which humans can comfortably live. Governments and businesses have taken interest in how to stay within those boundaries and, more importantly, how to prepare for future impacts from breached boundaries. <a href="https://social-innovation.hitachi/en-eu/article/planetary-boundaries/">Hitachi</a> has publicly committed to keeping its corporate activities within planetary boundaries with a focus on “growth within the limits”. <a href="https://www.yara.com/siteassets/investors/057-reports-and-presentations/annual-reports/2022/yara-sustainability-report-2022.pdf/">Yara</a> also reports that it is working to respect planetary boundaries within its agricultural supply chain, especially through the increased efficiency of nutrients.</p>
<p><a href="https://thenaturalstep.org/">The Natural Step</a> (TNS) framework was started over 30 years ago in Sweden and was the first to develop a shared definition, vision, principles, framework, and process for companies to begin the sustainability journey. Nike was an early adopter of The Natural Step through its <a href="https://www.nike.com/sustainability/recycling-donation">Reuse-a-Shoe program</a> to take back worn shoes for recycling; the program continues today. <a href="https://www.scandichotels.com/partners/sustainable-partnerships">Scandic Hotels</a> also began its sustainability work under the advisement of The Natural Step and continues to follow TNS principles: do not degrade the earth, over-extract from the Earth’s surface, produce too much waste, or interfere with individuals’ capacity to meet their own needs.</p>
<h2>Best certification standard schemes</h2>
<p>One established certification scheme also stood out: <a href="https://www.iso.org/standard/60857.html">ISO 14001</a>, an environmental management system certification for companies to measure and improve environmental impact. Companies select metrics relevant to their operations, such as paper usage, electricity usage, and the weight of waste sent to the landfill.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.toyota-europe.com/sustainability/compliance">Toyota Europe</a> and <a href="https://www.swebor.se/we-are-now-iso-14001-certified/">Swebor</a> are both ISO 14001 certified, meaning that they have procedures in place to measure and manage environmental impacts of company operations. <a href="https://www.swebor.se/we-are-now-iso-14001-certified/">Swebor states</a> certification leads to less waste, increased use of renewable resources, and increased efficiency.</p>
<p>The other schemes not mentioned in the study, such as the European Commission’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), the United Nations’ Global Compact, and the Carbon Disclosure Project, were more oriented toward sustaining business rather than sustaining our human habitat.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212655/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nancy E. Landrum, Ph.D. ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Commonly used schemes such as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, B Corp certifications and the Global Reporting Initiative fail to hold businesses accountable on their green targets.Nancy E. Landrum, Ph.D., Professor of Sustainable Business Transformation, Munich Business SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157722023-11-22T21:11:55Z2023-11-22T21:11:55ZWasting and edema — severe forms of malnutrition — affect millions of children worldwide as food insecurity grows<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/wasting-and-edema-severe-forms-of-malnutrition-affect-millions-of-children-worldwide-as-food-insecurity-grows" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Each year around the globe, <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240073791">45 million children</a> under the age of five experience wasting, which is very low body weight relative to height as a result of muscle and fat loss. Of these, 13.6 million have severe wasting, which puts them at an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnrdp.2017.67">11-fold risk of dying</a> from infectious diseases compared to children who are not wasted.</p>
<p>Nutritional edema (also known as kwashiorkor) is another manifestation of malnutrition that often goes unmeasured in surveys. But it is likely that worldwide, <a href="https://www.ennonline.net/childkwashiorkor">hundreds of thousands of children</a> per year have edema.</p>
<p>Children with edema have swelling in their feet at minimum, but their legs, hands, arms and faces can also become swollen. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104070">Researchers are still questioning</a> why some children develop edema versus wasting — or a combination of the two.</p>
<p>Severe wasting and edema were previously called severe acute malnutrition, but this didn’t reflect the fact that children can have wasting for months at a time and can have repeated bouts of it after recovering.</p>
<h2>Zero Hunger goals</h2>
<p>The world is halfway to the end of the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a> timeline, which includes ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030 as part of the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal2">Zero Hunger</a> goal. This means dropping the rate of wasting to below five per cent by 2025 as an intermediate target and below three per cent by 2030 — <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240073791">which we are not on track to achieve</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.fsinplatform.org/global-report-food-crises-2023">2023 Global Report on Food Crises</a> stated that 258 million people in 58 countries needed urgent food assistance in 2022. This is the highest number since the first report seven years prior. The report highlights that acute food insecurity can be attributed mainly to conflict, economic shocks and extreme weather from climate change.</p>
<p>As an expert in malnutrition, when I see these figures, I expect a rise in severe wasting and edema as a significant consequence. But the international nutrition community is active in trying to reach more children who need treatment and deliver care based on available evidence.</p>
<h2>Treating severe wasting and edema</h2>
<p>Malnutrition in the form of severe wasting and edema is a complex child health issue that requires specialized nutritional and medical treatment.</p>
<p>A majority of children with wasting or edema can be treated in outpatient settings, under a model called Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition that was <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789280641479">backed by several United Nations agencies in 2007</a>. Before this model, all children with severe wasting and edema were admitted to hospital.</p>
<p>Ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) is a key part of this treatment of children in their communities. RUTF is designated as a “<a href="https://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/sh-proxy/en/?lnk=1&url=https%253A%252F%252Fworkspace.fao.org%252Fsites%252Fcodex%252FStandards%252FCXG%2B95-2022%252FCXG_095e.pdf">food for special medical purposes</a>” for children with severe wasting and edema. It was added to the <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-MHP-HPS-EML-2023.03">WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for Children</a> in July 2023. This is seen as a huge achievement for many in the nutrition community because RUTF should be stocked like other important medicines, such as antibiotics, in places where wasting and edema occur. This could also help improve integration of nutrition into health systems.</p>
<p>RUTF is usually made of peanuts, oil, sugar and milk powder, with vitamins and minerals mixed in. These ingredients are squeezed into 500-calorie sachets that are shelf-stable for up to two years.</p>
<p>However, one in five children with severe wasting and edema needs to be admitted for hospital treatment at specialized centres called nutritional rehabilitation units (NRUs). These are extremely vulnerable children, suffering from this serious form of malnutrition in combination with co-morbidities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnrdp.2017.67">like HIV or tuberculosis</a>. Mortality rates in NRUs vary <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5034633/">from 10 to 40 per cent</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A hand holding packets of Plumpy'Nut ready-to-use therapeutic food" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ready-to-use therapeutic food was added to the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for Children in July 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/33140342933/in/photolist-SuuVmZ-Turv6S-fQ7sWG-dCeA5e-dCezHk-atBkZt-cMCRCd-dCk2Db-ieaX7q-dYfe8h-TJnhQg-ieaFqY-dCk1os-7pYKg8-fQ7teG-d8Wv5f-ifyvyb-qe1yqF-ie9mnE-ie7aFc-ie8YUi-TwT8dZ-iea6S4-ieaaKT-iea5Qc-ie3T4i-ieatqW-ieaxSG-SuuWnM-ie6r8B-TEKyAW-ie2dog-neNZrD-ie4SUE-fQ7vK7-77Ghsz-ie9PDo-ie2wAE-ie4nNy-ie1bPp-idZRjz-ieadpG-SrQxQm-fTremr-fPPWzM-ie1f7X-fPPWCx-fQ7sj5-e37dje-ie7Qm6">(Russell Watkins/DFID/flickr)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>When children are admitted to NRUs, health-care workers prioritize identifying and managing life-threatening conditions. The first phase of treatment, the stabilization phase, involves giving children a specific type of therapeutic milk known as F-75 — because it has 75 calories per 100 millilitres — every few hours along with breast milk for younger children. </p>
<p>F-75 is relatively low in calories and protein to lower the chance of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2016.05.016">refeeding syndrome</a>. Refeeding syndrome occurs when food is consumed too quickly after starvation, causing serious shifts in electrolytes and fluids that can be fatal.</p>
<p>Once stabilized, children can transition to F-100 and/or RUTF while being treated in NRUs, at which point they start to regain weight. When children meet criteria that deems them healthy enough to leave the hospital, they continue with their treatment at home until they recover.</p>
<h2>Global action and commitments</h2>
<p>The current model of care has enabled treatment of most children with severe wasting and edema in their communities, apart from the sickest children who need NRU care. But still, two-thirds of children with severe wasting do not receive treatment, <a href="https://www.unicef.org/reports/no-time-waste">according to UNICEF</a>.</p>
<p>UN partners announced the <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/global-action-plan-on-child-wasting-a-framework-for-action">Global Action Plan (GAP) on Child Wasting</a> in 2019, calling for a concerted global effort to tackle wasting and edema. In January 2023, they posted a <a href="https://www.unicef.org/documents/UN-GAP-Call-to-Action">call to action</a> to protect children in 15 countries hit hard by the global food and nutrition crisis.</p>
<p>As part of the GAP, <a href="https://app.magicapp.org/#/guideline/noPQkE">the WHO has released a new evidence-based guideline this year</a> that covers the <em>prevention</em> of wasting and edema as well as <em>management</em> of: </p>
<ul>
<li>severe wasting and edema; </li>
<li>moderate wasting (a less serious form of wasting than severe wasting that afflicts about 31 million children); and </li>
<li>infants under six months old at risk of poor growth and development. </li>
</ul>
<p>The <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241506328">previous WHO guideline</a> was published a decade ago and only addressed treatment of severe wasting and edema.</p>
<p>There is also substantial financial support to reach more children with severe wasting and edema, such as a combined <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/over-half-billion-dollars-pledged-tackle-severe-wasting-july-unprecedented">half a billion U.S. dollars commitment last year</a> from donors and governments to address wasting, including <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/unprecedented-280m-raised-for-child-malnutrition-treatment-104018">$56 million from Canada</a>.</p>
<p>And many countries affected by wasting and edema have <a href="https://www.childwasting.org/the-gap-framework">made major commitments</a> to update policies and accelerate wasting and edema management and prevention, with funds from national budgets earmarked for these actions.</p>
<p>The combination of political and financial actions that strengthen nutrition programs within health systems and reach more children with wasting and edema who need treatment will mean more children survive. New global guidance on how best to prevent and manage wasting will help to improve the care of these children.</p>
<p>But it needs to be all hands on deck — within and beyond the global nutrition community — to curtail the surge in wasting and edema in the highest risk children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215772/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Allison Daniel is involved in the WHO guideline on prevention and management of wasting and nutritional edema, but the views in this article do not necessarily reflect those of WHO.</span></em></p>As global acute food insecurity increases, severe wasting — which already affects 13.6 million children — is expected to rise with it. Treating wasting requires specialized nutrition and medical care.Allison Daniel, Adjunct Professor, Food, Nutrition and Health, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157152023-10-26T13:35:39Z2023-10-26T13:35:39ZGlobal university rankings now include social impact: African universities are off to a strong start<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554926/original/file-20231020-25-oic45g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Universities across Africa can drive prosperity through innovation.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Westend61</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>World university rankings are released towards the end of each year. Institutions globally scramble to see how they have fared. Have they risen or fallen? If so, by how much and in which rankings? Have they maintained their position in an <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20230629104003226">increasingly competitive</a> global higher education landscape? </p>
<p>There have been some improvements in African universities’ performances. But the continent’s institutions still don’t feature prominently towards the top of the rankings. In the Times Higher Education <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2024/world-ranking">(THE) World University Rankings 2024</a>, for instance, South Africa’s University of Cape Town is top for the continent, at 167th place. It is followed by three other South African institutions: Stellenbosch University and the University of the Witwatersrand, which sit between 301 and 350, and the University of Johannesburg between 401 and 500. </p>
<p>The first sub-Saharan non-South African institution, Ghana’s University of Cape Coast, is in the group 601-800. Uganda’s Makerere University, placed between 801 and 1,000, is the top in east Africa.</p>
<p>The value, methodologies and implications of world university rankings are much <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03312-2">debated</a>. Several institutions, such as the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, have even withdrawn their participation from some <a href="https://www.uu.nl/en/news/why-uu-is-missing-in-the-the-ranking">rankings</a>. They are critical of the focus on competition and scores rather than on partnerships and open science.</p>
<p>We are especially interested in a recent addition to the rankings landscape: scoring for sustainability and positive societal impact. The <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/impactrankings">THE Impact Rankings</a>, for example, assess universities’ performance against the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a>. The <a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/sustainability-rankings/2023">QS Sustainability ranking</a> includes environmental and social impact dimensions.</p>
<p>As academics working in the field of social innovation and sustainable development, we welcome this attention to impact and sustainability. Sustainable development is a critical concern for universities globally. It drives institutions’ research and innovation. It matters to students. It is central in teaching and learning. It also underpins universities’ wider role and activities in communities, societies and economies. </p>
<p>Responding to the challenge of sustainable development is an especially pressing concern for African universities. </p>
<h2>A mandate and a mission</h2>
<p>African universities work in conditions of significant need. Many African economies have grown rapidly in <a href="https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/press-releases/africas-economic-growth-outpace-global-forecast-2023-2024-african-development-bank-biannual-report-58293">recent times</a>, but <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/africa-and-the-sustainable-development-goals-a-long-way-to-go/">sustainable development challenges</a> remain. These include poverty and inequalities in gender, health, education and opportunities. Conflict over resources and the effects of climate change are also major challenges. </p>
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<p>Some African universities were established with the task of addressing these challenges, and to drive development and prosperity.</p>
<p>So it is very welcome that several African universities place well in some of these new impact rankings. Some are even world leaders in addressing various SDGs. </p>
<p>For example, South Africa’s University of Johannesburg ranks 46th in the THE Impact Rankings 2023. It is first globally for its <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20230619224828695">work to address SDG 1 (No Poverty)</a>. It has achieved this through initiatives like its <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/support-services/give-to-uj/support-the-students-and-residences/missing-middle-fund/">Missing Middle Fund</a>, which benefits over 60% of the university’s students. It also invests heavily in research centres, institutes and chairs that focus on poverty issues. It supports them to do research that has a direct impact on local communities and policy development.</p>
<p>Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), meanwhile, scores top for its contribution to <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20230613111153424#:%7E:text=The%20Kwame%20Nkrumah%20University%20of,which%20focuses%20on%20quality%20education.">SDG 4 (Quality Education)</a>. The institution’s students benefit from excellent teaching, complemented by investments in up-to-date infrastructure, ICT and e-learning resources. It provides numerous scholarships and runs programmes like <a href="https://thebftonline.com/2023/05/24/stanbic-bank-fulfils-promise-to-knusts-sonsol-project/">Support One Needy Student with One Laptop</a>. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-development-goals-are-in-reach-if-african-universities-work-together-47903">Sustainable development goals are in reach if African universities work together</a>
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<p>Another positive trend for African universities in impact rankings is that they are increasingly working together and with partners globally. For instance, Makerere University and the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation at the University of Cape Town are partners within the <a href="https://socialinnovationinhealth.org/">Social Innovation in Health Initiative</a>. This aims to advance social innovation in health (SDG3 - Good Health and Wellbeing) across the continent and other low- and middle-income countries. </p>
<p>These positive stories and growing examples of African leadership are worth celebrating. And even more may be possible.</p>
<h2>Filling the gaps</h2>
<p>Further research is needed to understand how African universities are working towards sustainable development and what more they can do. This might reveal ways to enhance existing work and share best practice. </p>
<p>Universities can make it possible to find solutions to sustainable development challenges. They generate knowledge and can influence policy making and practice. They can develop innovative solutions themselves. As major employers, procurers, and resource users they can have positive (and negative) effects through their operations.</p>
<p>Research on the roles of universities in their communities, including and beyond teaching and research, has focused on the global north. Universities in the global south (and particularly those in Africa) have often been overlooked. This relatively limited attention may reflect wider inequalities in global knowledge production, and negative perceptions of the work African universities do.</p>
<p>We want to address these gaps. So we’ve launched a new international, multi-institution and interdisciplinary research project. “<a href="https://wun.ac.uk/wun/research/view/african-universities-as-enablers-of-social-innovation-and-sustainable-development/">African universities as enablers of social innovation and sustainable development</a>” is funded by the <a href="https://wun.ac.uk/">Worldwide Universities Network</a>. It brings together academics from the universities of Cape Town, Sheffield, Ghana, Leeds, Pretoria and York, as well as Makerere University.</p>
<p>The project will run for the next 12 months. We will use a social innovation perspective to investigate how African universities are contributing to achieving the UN SDGs. We hope this project will build a community of scholars working on the topic in and outside Africa, and provide academic and practical insights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research will be pursued in collaboration with the WUN Global Higher Education and Research (GHEAR) network which also provided funding for the project and all authors.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Littlewood receives funding from: Worldwide Universities Network.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bob Doherty, Phyllis Awor, Ralph Hamann, and Teddy Ossei Kwakye do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Responding to societal challenges and promoting sustainable development is an especially pressing concern for African universities.Annika Surmeier, Senior Lecturer, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, University of Cape TownAlex Bignotti, Senior Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship, University of PretoriaBob Doherty, Professor of Marketing and Chair of Agrifood, University of YorkDavid Littlewood, Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management, University of SheffieldDiane Holt, Chair in Entrepreneurship, Leeds University Business School, University of LeedsPhyllis Awor, Lecturer in Public Health, Makerere UniversityRalph Hamann, Professor, University of Cape TownTeddy Ossei Kwakye, Senior Lecturer in Accounting, University of GhanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2066772023-09-18T11:30:06Z2023-09-18T11:30:06ZWell behind at halftime: here’s how to get the UN Sustainable Development Goals back on track<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548712/original/file-20230918-17-6icb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C3%2C1176%2C794&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://dam.media.un.org/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=2AM94SCXBEN&FR_=1&W=1333&H=1245#/DamView&VBID=2AM94S66DGUNP&PN=1&WS=SearchResults">United Nations</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week <a href="https://www.un.org/en/conferences/SDGSummit2023">world leaders are gathering</a> at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York to review progress against the Sustainable Development Goals. We’re halfway between when the goals were set in 2015 and when they need to be met in 2030.</p>
<p>As authors of a <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/gsdr/gsdr2023">global UN report</a> on the goals, we have a message to share. Currently, the world is not on track to achieve any of the 17 goals. </p>
<p>There is much at stake. Failing to achieve the goals would mean <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2023/">by the end of the decade</a>, 600 million people will be living in extreme poverty. More than 80 million children and young people will not be in school. Humanity will overshoot the Paris climate agreement’s 1.5°C “safe” guardrail on average global temperature rise. And, at the current rate, <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2022/09/progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-the-gender-snapshot-2022">it will take 300 years</a> to attain gender equality.</p>
<p>But there is hope. With decisive action, we can shift the dial towards a fairer, more sustainable and prosperous world by 2030. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-modelled-4-scenarios-for-australias-future-economic-growth-alone-cant-deliver-the-goods-126823">We modelled 4 scenarios for Australia's future. Economic growth alone can't deliver the goods</a>
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<h2>What does the research say?</h2>
<p>The set of <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">17 universal goals</a> agreed in 2015 to aim to end poverty, improve health and education, and reduce inequality – while tackling climate change and preserving our oceans and forests. Each of the goals are broken down into targets. </p>
<p>Every four years, the UN Secretary-General appoints an independent group of 15 international scientists to assess progress against these goals and recommend how to move forwards. We were among the authors of the latest <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/gsdr/gsdr2023">Global Sustainable Development Report</a> published late last week.</p>
<p>To provide a snapshot of progress, we reviewed 36 targets. We found only two were on track (on access to mobile networks and internet usage) and 14 showed fair progress. Twelve showed limited or no progress – including around poverty, safe drinking water and ecosystem conservation. </p>
<p>Worryingly, eight targets were assessed as still going backwards. These included reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and fossil fuel subsidies, preventing species extinction and ensuring sustainable fish stocks.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Hear from some of the scientists behind the Global Sustainable Development Report 2023.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>What is holding us back?</h2>
<p>Recent studies have identified feasible and cost-effective <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01098-3">global</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0409-9">national</a> pathways to accelerate progress on the goals. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, in many developing countries, insufficient financial resources and weak governance hinder progress. In other cases, existing investments in fossil fuels have generated strong resistance from powerful vested interests. Achieving some goals, such as responsible consumption and production, will also require big, unpopular changes in habits and lifestyles, which are very ingrained.</p>
<p>To accelerate progress on the goals, targets must be fully integrated by government and business at all levels into core decision making, budgeting and planning processes. We need to identify and prioritise those areas that lag furthest behind. To be effective, we also need to uncover and address the root causes of inadequate outcomes, which lie in our institutions and governance systems.</p>
<p>Accountability also remains weak. The goals are not legally binding and even though countries have expressed their support, this has often failed to translate into policy and investments. In practice, the targets are often “painted on” to existing strategies without redesigning norms and structures to deliver improved outcomes.</p>
<p>If the world is to accelerate progress on the goals, governments need to play a more active part, by setting targets, stimulating innovation, shaping markets, and regulating business. </p>
<p>We call on policymakers to develop tailored action plans to accelerate progress on the goals in the remaining years to 2030, including measures to improve accountability. </p>
<p>Scientists have a major role to play too. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02808-x#:%7E:text=It's%20crucial%20that%20scientists%20support,transformation%20pathways%3B%20and%20improving%20governance.">As we argued in Nature</a>, scientists can help us redesign institutions, systems and practices. By studying ways to strengthen governance and build momentum for tough but transformative reforms, research can overcome resistance to change, and manage negative side-effects. </p>
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<h2>What does it mean for Australia?</h2>
<p>Australia tends to perform poorly on the goals when compared to our peers in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), <a href="https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/rankings">ranking 40th in the world in 2023</a>. Our best-performing goals include health and education, while <a href="https://www.sdgtransformingaustralia.com/">progress lags</a> on environmental goals, economic inequality and cost-of-living pressures. </p>
<p>While some <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/publications/national-food-waste-strategy">environment agencies</a>, <a href="https://acsi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/1ACSI-ESG-Reporting-Trends-in-the-ASX200-JUN22-.pdf">businesses</a> and <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/un-sustainable-goals-voluntary-local-review.pdf">local groups</a> have embraced the goals, Australia’s poor performance is symptomatic of limited traction and commitment at the centre of government. </p>
<p>Here, the goals are often seen as an international development issue rather than central to domestic <a href="https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/profiles/australia/policy-efforts">policy efforts</a>. We lack a high-level statement or any strategy or action plan for the goals. There is no lead unit or coordination mechanism in place and no reference to the goals in the federal budget. One promising development, <a href="https://www.sdgdata.gov.au/">a national Sustainable Development Goal monitoring portal</a>, hasn’t been updated in five years. </p>
<p>The best performing countries have taken concrete steps to mainstream the targets and ensure accountability:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2022/734766/IPOL_IDA(2022)734766_EN.pdf">Denmark</a> requires new government bills to be screened and assessed for their impacts on the goals </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://stm.fi/en/-/action-plan-to-integrate-the-economy-of-wellbeing-into-decision-making-and-sustainability-assessment">Finland</a> has taken steps to place sustainable development and people’s wellbeing at the heart of policy and decision making. A sustainable development commission, annual citizens’ panel on sustainable development and national audits provide <a href="https://www.environmental-auditing.org/media/auzf4emi/wgea-wp5_sustainabledevelopementgoals_2022.pdf">increased accountability</a> </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.futuregenerations.wales/about-us/future-generations-act/">Wales</a> requires public bodies to use sustainable development as a guiding principle reflecting the values and aspirations of the Welsh people.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Australia’s first <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-07/measuring-what-matters-statement020230721_0.pdf">wellbeing framework</a> is an important step forward. The framework of 50 indicators has considerable overlap with the goals, despite notable exceptions such as the lack of a poverty indicator or any specific targets or benchmarks. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-first-wellbeing-framework-is-about-to-measure-what-matters-but-its-harder-than-counting-gdp-209868">Australia's first wellbeing framework is about to measure what matters – but it's harder than counting GDP</a>
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<h2>Start lifting our game</h2>
<p>As we’ve learned through our own research, little will change if such promising initiatives remain box-ticking exercises that fail to reorient our societies and economies towards sustainable development. </p>
<p>To achieve real change, indicator frameworks need to be translated into timebound targets that clearly set the agreed direction and level of ambition. These targets must be embedded in the core decision-making processes of government and business.</p>
<p>Remember the goals are not a set of technical targets and indicators. They are the outcomes each of us want for our society and the world we live in. </p>
<p>While we are behind at halftime, the game is not over. It is up to us to lift our performance and turn the score around. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-threatens-the-rights-of-children-the-un-just-outlined-the-obligations-states-have-to-protect-them-209587">Climate change threatens the rights of children. The UN just outlined the obligations states have to protect them</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Allen receives funding from the Australian Government. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shirin Malekpour receives funding from the Australian Government.</span></em></p>Our research shows the world is not on track to achieve any of the Sustainable Development Goals. But with decisive action, we can still achieve a fairer, more sustainable and prosperous future.Cameron Allen, Research Fellow, Monash UniversityShirin Malekpour, Associate Professor in Sustainable Development Governance, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2125852023-09-06T12:26:55Z2023-09-06T12:26:55ZThe US committed to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, but like other countries, it’s struggling to make progress<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546246/original/file-20230904-15-tjmfsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=229%2C467%2C3173%2C2207&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many colonias along the Texas-Mexico border still lack basic infrastructure, including running water.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TexasBorderColonias/47c19c2a66e340d49a1d534f3b6df91e/photo">AP Photo/Eric Gay</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a Zen parable, a man sees a horse and rider galloping by. The man asks the rider where he’s going, and the rider responds, “I don’t know. Ask the horse!”</p>
<p>It is easy to feel out of control and helpless in the face of the many problems Americans are now experiencing – <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/americans-challenges-with-health-care-costs/">unaffordable health care</a>, <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/poverty-awareness-month.html">poverty</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/ipcc-report-climate-solutions-exist-but-humanity-has-to-break-from-the-status-quo-and-embrace-innovation-202134">climate change</a>, to name a few. These problems are made harder by the ways in which people, including elected representatives, often talk past each other.</p>
<p>Most <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/06/21/inflation-health-costs-partisan-cooperation-among-the-nations-top-problems/">people want</a> a strong economy, social well-being and a healthy environment. These goals are interdependent: A strong economy isn’t possible without a society peaceful enough to support investment and well-functioning markets, or without water and air clean enough to support life and productivity. This understanding – that economic, social and environmental well-being are intertwined – is the premise of sustainable development. </p>
<p>In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2015/ga11688.doc.htm">unanimously adopted</a> 17 <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2015/12/sustainable-development-goals-kick-off-with-start-of-new-year">Sustainable Development Goals</a>, known as the SDGs, with 169 measurable targets to be achieved by 2030. Though not legally binding, all nations, including the U.S., agreed to pursue this agenda.</p>
<p>The world is now halfway to that 2030 deadline. Countries have made some progress, such as reducing extreme poverty and child mortality, though the COVID-19 pandemic <a href="https://www.un.org/en/desa/it%E2%80%99s-now-or-never-achieving-sdgs-hinges-effective-crises-response">set back progress</a> on many targets.</p>
<p>On Sept. 18-19, 2023, countries are reviewing global progress toward those goals during a meeting at the United Nations. It’s a good opportunity for Americans to review their own progress because, as we see it, sustainable development is fundamentally American.</p>
<h2>Environment, economy and health intertwined</h2>
<p>Though not widely recognized, sustainable development has been a core American policy since President Richard Nixon signed the <a href="https://www.energy.gov/nepa/downloads/national-environmental-policy-act-1969">National Environmental Policy Act </a> into law in 1970. The law says that Americans should “use all practicable means and measures … to create and maintain conditions under which man [sic] and nature can exist in productive harmony and fulfill the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans.”</p>
<p>While it is tempting in today’s sour political climate to dismiss this as wishful thinking, the U.S. has made some progress reconciling economic development with environmental protection. </p>
<p>Gross domestic product, for example, grew 196% between 1980 and 2022, while total emissions of the six most common non-greenhouse air pollutants, including lead and sulfur dioxide, fell 73%, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/air-quality-national-summary">according to the Environmental Protection Agency</a>. </p>
<p>The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, a major sustainable development law, is designed to further accelerate the use of renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through tax credits and other incentives. <a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/pages/the-us-is-poised-for-an-energy-revolution.html">Goldman Sachs</a> estimated the law would spur about US$3 trillion in renewable energy investment. The law has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/one-year-biden-still-needs-explain-his-signature-clean-energy-legislation-2023-08-16/">already been credited with creating</a> 170,000 new jobs and leading to more than 270 new or expanded clean energy projects. That impact further demonstrates that environmental goals can align with economic growth.</p>
<p>The 2015 Sustainable Development Goals cover a broader range of environmental, social and economic issues, and there are indicators for assessing progress on each.</p>
<h2>How is America doing?</h2>
<p><a href="https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/rankings">The U.S. ranked 39th</a> out of 166 countries in a 2023 review of national efforts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.unsdsn.org/about-us">Sustainable Development Solutions Network</a>, which operates under the auspices of the U.N. Secretary-General, finds that America is lagging behind the targets set <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">for many of the Sustainable Development Goals</a> that are critical to the nation’s defense, competitiveness and health, such as reducing obesity, increasing life expectancy at birth, protecting labor rights, reducing maternal mortality, decreasing inequality and protecting biodiversity.</p>
<p>To understand where the U.S. is falling short, we asked <a href="https://www.eli.org/sites/default/files/files-pdf/GoverningforSustainability-TOC.pdf">26 experts working on various areas of sustainable development</a> to review the nation’s progress and make recommendations for future action. The resulting 2023 book, <a href="https://www.eli.org/eli-press-books/governing-sustainability">Governing for Sustainability</a>, provides some 500 U.S.-specific recommendations for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.</p>
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<img alt="A young child, looking bored, sits on a woman's lap as a nurse tests her blood pressure." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546248/original/file-20230904-27-721s7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546248/original/file-20230904-27-721s7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546248/original/file-20230904-27-721s7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546248/original/file-20230904-27-721s7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546248/original/file-20230904-27-721s7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546248/original/file-20230904-27-721s7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546248/original/file-20230904-27-721s7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Residents waited in long lines for a free annual health clinic in Wise, Va., in 2017. A nonprofit operated the annual pop-up clinic for two decades until the state expanded Medicaid eligibility in 2019, which helped more residents afford local health care.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ruby-partin-and-her-adoptive-son-timothy-huff-visit-a-free-news-photo/820902146">John Moore/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Health and access to quality health care loom large in many of the goals. The authors in several chapters explain why the nation cannot eliminate poverty or hunger, or have a vibrant economy, gender equality or education gains, without widely available, affordable health care. Yet, the U.S. has some of the <a href="https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2023/07/why-are-americans-paying-more-for-healthcare">highest health care costs in the world</a>. Several states have <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/georgia-medicaid-program-work-requirement-off-slow-start-102389380">rejected efforts to expand eligibility</a> for federal Medicaid health insurance for low-income residents, leaving many people without care.</p>
<p>Similarly, the authors show that human health, ecological health, clean water and economic vitality <a href="https://www.eli.org/eli-press-books/governing-sustainability">all require sound climate policy</a>. A quickly warming world <a href="https://theconversation.com/8-billion-people-four-ways-climate-change-and-population-growth-combine-to-threaten-public-health-with-global-consequences-193077">poses new health risks</a>, decimates ecosystems, strains potable water supplies and reduces global economic productivity.</p>
<p>Clean and abundant water is critical to a functioning economy and a stable, diverse ecosystem, and yet some areas of the United States <a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-rules-the-us-is-not-required-to-ensure-access-to-water-for-the-navajo-nation-202588">still lack clean water</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/youth-living-in-settlements-at-us-border-suffer-poverty-and-lack-of-health-care-103416">indoor plumbing</a>. This often occurs in communities of color and low income, and it can impede economic prosperity and development in these areas.</p>
<p>Ready access to nutritious food is also a bedrock need to support many of the Sustainable Development Goals, from poverty alleviation to education, yet far too many American children <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001%2Fjamanetworkopen.2021.5262">rely on school lunches</a> for <a href="https://www.ppic.org/blog/feeding-children-when-schools-are-closed-for-covid-19/">basic sustenance</a>.</p>
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<img alt="A man squints into the sun as he holds a large hose that pours water into a tank in the back of a pickup truck." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546249/original/file-20230904-27-t1qoyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546249/original/file-20230904-27-t1qoyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546249/original/file-20230904-27-t1qoyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546249/original/file-20230904-27-t1qoyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546249/original/file-20230904-27-t1qoyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546249/original/file-20230904-27-t1qoyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546249/original/file-20230904-27-t1qoyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A U.S. Army veteran fills a tank in the back of his pickup with water in Laredo, Texas, to provide water for his mother’s home. Rural residents in parts of the Southwest have to truck in clean water.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/carlos-salas-u-s-army-veteran-fills-his-water-tank-that-is-news-photo/916823510">Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The goals covering <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal16">peace, justice, strong institutions</a> and <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal17">partnerships</a> are necessary to achieve all of the goals. A society at war with itself and without rule of law cannot support a vibrant, diverse economy and lasting democracy. This has been shown repeatedly as some developing nations <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/10/20/understanding-and-responding-to-global-democratic-backsliding-pub-88173">backslide from democratic progress</a> and prosperity to civil war and poverty. <a href="https://www.eli.org/eli-press-books/governing-sustainability">Developed nations</a> are subject to the same forces.</p>
<h2>Taking the reins</h2>
<p>Sustainable development is emphatically not about government alone solving the nation’s problems. Businesses, universities and other organizations, as well as individuals, are essential to help the country realize its environmental, health and climate goals, fair practices and living wages. </p>
<p>The right place to “take the reins” is where you are, and with the problems or tasks in front of you – at work and at home. Figure out more sustainable ways to use water and energy, for example. Look at what our book recommends and what others are already doing to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. Seize opportunities such as saving money, and reduce risks by, for example, cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Every individual can contribute to a better future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212585/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Halfway to the SDGs’ 2030 deadline, countries have made progress, but most are struggling to meet all 17 goals. The US is no exception.Scott Schang, Director of Environmental Law and Policy Clinic; Professor of Practice, Wake Forest UniversityJohn Dernbach, Professor of Law Emeritus, Widener UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2073642023-07-05T13:26:05Z2023-07-05T13:26:05ZGenetically modified crops may be a solution to hunger - why there is scepticism in Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535785/original/file-20230705-7822-chcomm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hunger and undernourishment are two elements of food insecurity that have plagued Africa for years. And the menace is growing.</p>
<p>In 2022, the African region accounted for the highest level of hunger as described by <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/trends.html">Global Hunger Index</a>. According to the World Health Organization, over <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/06-07-2022-un-report--global-hunger-numbers-rose-to-as-many-as-828-million-in-2021">340 million Africans were undernourished and severely food insecure between 2014 and 2020</a>. </p>
<p>Low agricultural productivity and post-harvest losses are some of the reasons.</p>
<p>Evidence from the past two decades <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/12/2/439">suggests</a> that genetically modified (GM) crops could resolve low agricultural productivity, nutrition and food insecurity on the continent. </p>
<p>Scientists have <a href="https://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/pocketk/16">shown</a> that GM technology increases yield, develops disease-resistant crops, and creates varieties that can tolerate drought. </p>
<p>But the technology is controversial. In Africa, only Nigeria, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Malawi, Sudan, South Africa and Kenya allow commercial production and importation of GM products. Other African countries oppose them, largely because of the European Union (EU) <a href="https://food.ec.europa.eu/plants/genetically-modified-organisms/gmo-legislation_en">stance</a> on GM products, limited scientific capacity and the high cost of regulation. </p>
<p>The EU’s strict <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-eus-green-deal-opportunities-threats-and-risks-for-south-african-agriculture-170811">regulations</a> on GM products have affected its trade partners, including countries in Africa. Egypt and Burkina Faso, which had commercialised GM maize and cotton in 2008, backtracked on GM partly because of their trade relationship with the EU.</p>
<p>In 2013 I led the largest <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306919213001346">study</a> in the history of GM agriculture in Africa. It provided new perspectives on the status, development and regulation of GM crops, through the views of 305 stakeholders in six African countries. </p>
<p>In the study, my team and I developed a framework for adopting GM crops which we called fibre-feed-food (F-3). The F-3 framework adopts GM cotton (fibre) first, followed by GM feed for livestock, then GM food. It ensures that all necessary risk assessments are carried out between GM cotton and GM feed before producing GM food for human consumption. And it helps familiarise farmers and the public with new technology and allay their concerns about safety. </p>
<p>The framework has helped more than 30 African countries conduct GM crop field trials. GM products undergoing research and development include vitamin A-fortified cassava and potatoes, bacterial wilt-resistant banana and water-efficient maize, among others. </p>
<p>Based on my research in this area I believe that agricultural innovations such as <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/2048-7010-1-11">GM crops or organisms</a> have the potential to address food insecurity in Africa. </p>
<h2>The promise of GM crops</h2>
<p>The technology is already contributing to global food security. A report by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications <a href="https://www.isaaa.org/blog/entry/default.asp?BlogDate=10/20/2022">credits</a> GM technology for the global production of 330 million tonnes of soybean and 595 million tonnes of maize over the past 25 years. The adoption of GM technology among cotton producing households in India <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3674000/">reduced</a> food insecurity by 15%-20% between 2004 and 2008. </p>
<p>Research into the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29889608/">value gained</a> from planting GM crops has shown that 65% of the gain came from higher yield and production and 35% from lower costs. </p>
<p>Farmers in developing countries have enjoyed over half of the global value gain of US$186.1 billion since the mid-1990s. In 2019, Brazil, Argentina, India, Paraguay and China <a href="https://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/pocketk/16/">were among the 10 countries that planted the most GM crops</a> in the world. </p>
<p>GM technology also <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7061863/">offers</a> higher nutrient content in crops. For example, a trial of sweet potato bio-fortified with pro-vitamin A succeeded in Mozambique and the product was <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17449599/">accepted</a> by young children. This potentially improves child health.</p>
<p>GM crops showed environmental benefits by <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5443613/">reducing greenhouse gases</a> and pesticide use in developed countries. For example, a 2020 study suggested that GM technology worldwide <a href="https://www.isaaa.org/blog/entry/default.asp?BlogDate=10/20/2022">prevented</a> the emission of 23.6 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide. It means that the technology can help tackle global warming.</p>
<h2>Obstacles to GM crops in Africa</h2>
<p>In spite of these benefits, GM crops have not been widely adopted in Africa. Efforts to create and commercialise GM products still face stiff opposition. Uganda and Nigeria, for example, face strict regulation, limited research capacity and safety concerns.</p>
<p>In Uganda, a biosafety regulatory logjam, lack of awareness and politics undermine the application of GM technology. Different national biosafety policies have emerged over the past decade. </p>
<p>Potential risks of GM crops have led to the review and amendment of GM laws. The risks include gene flow (genes being transferred to another population), biodiversity loss and health related concerns. In 2018, a bill to regulate GM organisms in Uganda failed to be passed into law. The failure derived from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21645698.2023.2208999">disagreement</a> between the Ugandan parliament and the president. The overwhelming majority of parliament cited risks as the reason for outlawing GM organisms in the country. </p>
<p>The scientific community, led by the Ugandan National Agricultural Research Organisation, argues that regulations would facilitate research and development. Then there would be information to base decisions on. A decision to adopt organisms such as GM banana, for example, might reduce malnutrition and poverty. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/genetically-modified-cowpea-clears-its-first-hurdle-in-ghana-but-theres-a-long-way-to-go-186593">Genetically modified cowpea clears its first hurdle in Ghana, but there's a long way to go</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In Nigeria, a national biosafety bill was passed into law and approved by the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21645698.2023.2194221">in 2019</a>. Nigeria then commercialised GM cotton. This was followed by GM cowpea to control pod borer insects, which account for a <a href="https://www.aatf-africa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cowpea-Project.pdf">70%-80% loss of cowpea yield annually</a>. </p>
<p>Cowpea is a major source of protein and energy, especially for rural dwellers. Yet some scientists, environmentalists and consumers in Nigeria are still wary of GM cowpea. They argue that it could eradicate the use of traditional cowpea and farmers might not be able to afford the price of GM cowpea varieties. </p>
<p>Other scientists and agro-biotech companies believe that GM cowpea can reduce food scarcity and offer nutritional benefits. Acceptance depends a lot on local evidence. And that requires scientific capacity and partnerships with private research institutes.</p>
<h2>What must be done</h2>
<p>Resilient food systems require a wide range of existing and new agricultural technologies, including GM organisms. There are several ways to encourage uptake:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>increase investment in research and innovation for agricultural biotechnology</p></li>
<li><p>educate and train scientists</p></li>
<li><p>get local scientists involved in setting the research agenda and providing evidence to inform national decision making</p></li>
<li><p>exchange ideas and information across different levels of government </p></li>
<li><p>create awareness through science communication informed by local evidence of benefits and concerns.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Policy, research and science communication must align. The goal is to ensure GM foods are safe to eat, and help end hunger and malnutrition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207364/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ademola Adenle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Genetically modified crops are increasing yield and food security in developed countries, but in Africa, a lack of adoption is limiting success.Ademola Adenle, Visiting Professor of Sustainability Science, Technical University of DenmarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2055712023-07-02T20:02:18Z2023-07-02T20:02:18ZThe Murray-Darling Basin shows why the ‘social cost of water’ concept won’t work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533850/original/file-20230625-98671-sa646o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C3%2C2066%2C1394&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Kate McBride</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Access to safe, clean water is a basic <a href="https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/human-rights-water-and-sanitation">human right</a>. But water scarcity or barriers to access can cause conflict within and between countries. </p>
<p>Fights over water can be expected to <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues/water">intensify as the world warms</a>, evaporation increases and rainfall becomes less predictable. So we’ll need to work even harder to resolve disputes and share this precious resource. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, for the first time in almost half a century, the <a href="https://www.unwater.org/news/un-2023-water-conference">United Nations held a conference squarely focused on water</a>. Thousands of water experts gathered in New York for three days in March, to chart a way forward. </p>
<p>We were among the delegates. Since then, we have discussed and debated ideas that surfaced at this international meeting. Some were worthwhile, but others were wrong. In particular, we challenge the concept of a global “social cost of water”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532807/original/file-20230620-46525-4a5amn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Infographic outlining the UN 2023 Water Conference vision statement" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532807/original/file-20230620-46525-4a5amn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532807/original/file-20230620-46525-4a5amn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532807/original/file-20230620-46525-4a5amn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532807/original/file-20230620-46525-4a5amn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532807/original/file-20230620-46525-4a5amn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532807/original/file-20230620-46525-4a5amn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532807/original/file-20230620-46525-4a5amn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Picturing The UN 2023 Water Conference vision.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.unwater.org/news/un-2023-water-conference">UN 2023 Water Conference</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/were-ignoring-the-value-of-water-and-that-means-were-devaluing-it-207936">We're ignoring the value of water – and that means we're devaluing it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is a global social cost of water?</h2>
<p>One of the big ideas that came up at the conference was the need for a “new economics of water as a common good”, which includes the “social cost of water”. </p>
<p>Elaborating on his idea <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00800-z">in the journal Nature</a>, Swedish scientist Johan Rockström and colleagues wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[Researchers] must assess the ‘social cost of water’, akin to the ‘social cost of carbon’, which considers the costs to society of loss and damage caused by water extremes and not meeting the basic provision of water for human needs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="https://www.rff.org/publications/explainers/social-cost-carbon-101/">social cost of carbon</a> is an estimate, in dollars, of the economic damages that would result from emitting one additional tonne of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It’s a decision-making tool used by governments, especially in the United States, for cost-benefit analysis of climate policy. </p>
<p>The social cost of water concept proposes valuing all types of water, including water vapour in the atmosphere that later falls as rain. This means attempting to put a dollar value on moisture flowing across borders, and implicitly creating world water markets. According to this logic, if <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00800-z">most of Nigeria’s rain</a> comes from forests in central Africa, then Nigeria should be prepared to pay central African nations to maintain the source of this moisture generation. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1638209350463541248"}"></div></p>
<p>But we believe the concept of a global social cost of water is fundamentally flawed, as we explained in our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01564-2/">correspondence in Nature</a> in May, alongside <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01563-3">others</a> who also questioned its logic and purpose. Further correspondence in June also described calls to govern water on a global scale as “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01924-y">unrealistic</a>” and distracting from sustainable and equitable access. </p>
<p>It’s unclear how a global social cost of water would work in practice. Writing as economists who have studied local water markets for decades, we see many problems with the concept, such as: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>how water moisture volumes would be estimated reliably and regularly</p></li>
<li><p>how a dollar value could be reliably associated with water moisture flows across borders</p></li>
<li><p>how payments would be enforced between countries, and by what institutions</p></li>
<li><p>whether the money paid between countries would actually improve water security</p></li>
<li><p>what would happen when moisture flows across borders lead to floods with loss of human lives – would the downwind country receive compensation for water disasters as well as droughts? </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Australia has the most sophisticated water markets in the world, in the Murray-Darling Basin. But even here there are <a href="https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/article-abstract/36/1/132/5696682">considerable differences in how markets work</a>. Water values and costs are also very different.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-social-cost-of-carbon-2-energy-experts-explain-176255">What is the ‘social cost of carbon’? 2 energy experts explain</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man looks out of the second-storey window of his flooded shack at Scott’s Creek, Morgan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534965/original/file-20230630-23-ziw4ih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534965/original/file-20230630-23-ziw4ih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534965/original/file-20230630-23-ziw4ih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534965/original/file-20230630-23-ziw4ih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534965/original/file-20230630-23-ziw4ih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534965/original/file-20230630-23-ziw4ih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534965/original/file-20230630-23-ziw4ih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In December, 2022, the swollen Murray River flooded homes in South Australia. The floodwater reached the second floor of Darren Davey’s shack at Scott’s Creek, Morgan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos.aap.com.au/search/murray%20flood?q=%7B%22pageSize%22:25,%22pageNumber%22:2%7D">MATT TURNER, AAP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin: a case in point</h2>
<p>The value of water in the Basin consists of benefits and costs. Some benefits include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>direct use of water to grow crops or irrigate pasture</p></li>
<li><p>recreational use such as boating and water sports</p></li>
<li><p>indirect use including the benefits to health and wellbeing from living alongside a natural water body</p></li>
<li><p>future use values, knowing there is sufficient water to sustain healthy ecosystems and rivers in years to come</p></li>
<li><p>future generational, existence and cultural values such as non-use values associated with the ancient <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jul/10/fish-traps-brewarrina-extraordinary-ancient-structures-protection">Brewarrina fish traps</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Costs include harm to mental health associated with a lack of water during drought. At the other extreme, there’s the cost of too much water causing floods, property damage and loss of life, or salinity harming viticulture in the Riverland. </p>
<p>This shows the social value of water is incredibly difficult to measure even within one area such as the Basin, let alone trying to enforce a global water market.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/water-buybacks-are-back-on-the-table-in-the-murray-darling-basin-heres-a-refresher-on-how-they-work-200529">Water buybacks are back on the table in the Murray-Darling Basin. Here's a refresher on how they work</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What should instead happen next?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01564-2">We think the best way</a> to address the water crisis is to focus on local management and institutions, plan carefully and implement a wide range of policies. These include: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>using economic methods and tools to assess and implement local water policies where feasible</p></li>
<li><p>removing subsidies that incentivise water exploitation</p></li>
<li><p>establishing sustainable extraction limits</p></li>
<li><p>strengthening water institutions to allow measurement, monitoring and enforcement of water use</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/what-why-and-how-world-water-crisis-global-commission-economics-water-phase-1-review-and-findings">promoting water justice and sharing</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>This is a big task. Misdirection down blind alleys is a distraction that the world cannot afford.</p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/42TLwJwAxQ8uE0bYuZNufh?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205571/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Ann Wheeler has received funding from the Australian Research Council; GRDC; Wine Australia; MDBA; CRC Food Waste; CSIRO; Goyder Institute; SA Department of Environment and Water; ACCC; NT Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security; NSW Health; Commonwealth Department of Agriculture and Water; Meat and Livestock Australia; ACIAR; RIRDC; UNECE; NCCARF; National Water Commission; and the Government of Netherlands.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The International Food Policy Research Institute, where Claudia Ringler works, receives funding from a considerable number of donors; none of which is linked to this piece. Claudia Ringler is a member of the International Advisory Committee (IAC) of UNU-INWEH.</span></em></p>After almost half a century, the United Nations has waded back into the murky world of water policy. But one of the ideas following this year’s international meeting has been shot down.Sarah Ann Wheeler, Professor in Water Economics, University of AdelaideClaudia Ringler, Deputy Director, Environment and Production Technology Division, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2073172023-06-22T08:45:54Z2023-06-22T08:45:54ZCities are central to our future – they have the power to make, or break, society’s advances<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530867/original/file-20230608-3016-2sh956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dharavi slum in India. Billions of people live in terrible conditions in the world's cities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Punit Paranje/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We live in tumultuous times. In the space of just a few years, we have witnessed a surge in <a href="https://ppr.lse.ac.uk/articles/10.31389/lseppr.4">populist politics across the world</a>, a <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019">global pandemic</a>, a spike in <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/weather-related-disasters-increase-over-past-50-years-causing-more-damage-fewer">environmental disasters</a> and a fraying of geopolitical relations demonstrated by the <a href="https://www.ft.com/war-in-ukraine">tragic war in Ukraine</a> and <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-relations-tension-us-policy-biden">escalating tensions over Taiwan</a>.</p>
<p>That has all occurred against a backdrop of dramatic technological changes that are fundamentally altering the way we work and relate to one another. </p>
<p>Our future is in the balance. Cities will be central to our fate, for two reasons. </p>
<p>First, they are now home to <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/overview#:%7E:text=Today%2C%20some%2056%25%20of%20the,billion%20inhabitants%20%E2%80%93%20live%20in%20cities">over half of the global population</a>, a share that will rise to <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html">two-thirds by 2050</a>. That is something never before seen in human history, and means that the forces shaping life in cities now also shape our world as a whole. </p>
<p>Second, cities throughout history have been the engines of human progress. Cities are where solutions are found – but also where perils are amplified when we fail to act.</p>
<p>This article draws on a book I co-authored with Tom Lee-Devlin, <a href="https://linktr.ee/ageofthecity">Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together</a>, which has just been published by Bloomsbury. As the book’s subtitle highlights, we need to ensure that we create more inclusive and sustainable cities if all our societies are to thrive. </p>
<h2>Cities as seats of populist revolt</h2>
<p>The great paradox of modern globalisation is that declining friction in the movement of people, goods and information has made where you live more important than ever. Appreciation of the complexity of globalisation has come a long way since the early 2000s, when American political commentator Thomas Friedman’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/World-Flat-History-Twenty-first-Century/dp/0374292884">The World is Flat </a> and British academic Frances Cairncross’s <a href="https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/the-death-of-distance-how-the-communications-revolution-is-changing-our-lives-distance-isn-t-what-it-used-to-be">The Death of Distance</a> captured the public’s imagination. </p>
<p>We now know that, far from making the world flat, globalisation has made it spiky. </p>
<p>The growing concentration of wealth and power in major urban metropolises is toxifying our politics. The wave of populist politics engulfing many countries is often built on anger against cosmopolitan urban elites. This has been given expression through <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887">Brexit in Britain</a>, and in support for anti-establishment politicians in the US, France, Italy, Sweden and other countries. </p>
<p>A common thread of all these populist movements is the notion that mainstream politicians, business leaders and media figures cocooned in big cities have let the rest of their countries down and lost interest in “left behind” places and people. </p>
<p>These populist revolts against dynamic cities are rooted in real grievances based on stagnating wages and soaring inequality. </p>
<p>A transformational effort to spread economic opportunity is long overdue. But undermining dynamic cities is not the way to do that. Cities like London, New York and Paris – and in the developing world Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, Shanghai, Cairo, Johannesburg and Lagos – are engines of economic growth and job creation without which their respective national economies would be crippled.</p>
<p>What’s more, many of these cities continue to harbour profound inequalities of their own, driven by wildly unaffordable housing and broken education systems, among other things. They are also in a state of flux, thanks to the rise of remote working.</p>
<p>In places like San Francisco, offices and shops are suffering, municipal taxes are declining and businesses that depend on intense footfall – from barbers to buskers – are under threat. So too are public transport systems, many of which depend on mass commuting and are haemorrhaging cash.</p>
<p>All countries, therefore, are in dire need of a new urban agenda, grounded in an appreciation of the power of large cities – when designed properly – to not just drive economic activity and creativity, but also bring together people from many different walks of life, building social cohesion and combating loneliness. </p>
<p>But our focus must extend beyond the rich world. It is in developing countries where most of the growth in cities and the world’s population is taking place. Overcoming poverty, addressing the Sustainable Development Goals and addressing climate change, pandemics and other threats requires that we find solutions in cities around the world. </p>
<h2>Dangers posed for cities in the developing world</h2>
<p>Developing countries now account for most of the world’s city-dwellers, thanks to decades of dramatic urban growth.</p>
<p>In some cases, such as China, rapid urbanisation has been the result of a process of economic modernisation that has lifted large swathes of the population out of poverty. </p>
<p>In others, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, urbanisation and economic development have been disconnected, with rural deprivation and the flight from danger playing a greater role in the migration to cities than urban opportunity. </p>
<p>Either way, cities are now where the world’s poor are choosing to live. And many of their cities are giant and overcrowded, with residents too often living in appalling conditions. </p>
<p>Appreciating what is happening in the cities of the developing world is essential if poverty is to be overcome. It also is vital if we are to understand why contagious diseases are making a comeback. Modern pandemics, from HIV to COVID-19, have their origins in these cities. </p>
<p>Crowded conditions are coinciding with a number of other trends in poor countries, including rapid deforestation, intensive livestock farming and the consumption of bushmeat, to increase the risk of diseases transferring from animals to humans and gaining a foothold in the population. </p>
<p>From there, connectivity between the world’s cities, particularly via airports, makes them a catalyst for the global dissemination of deadly diseases. That means that dreadful living conditions in many developing world cities are not only a pressing humanitarian and development issue, but also a matter of global public health. </p>
<p>Tremendous progress has been made in the past two centuries in <a href="https://wellcome.org/news/reforming-infectious-disease-research-development-ecosystem">combating infectious diseases</a>, but the tide is turning against us. Cities will be the principal battleground for the fight ahead. </p>
<p>Cities are also where humanity’s battle against climate change will be won or lost. Ocean rise, depletion of vital water resources and urban heatwaves risk making many cities uninhabitable. Coastal cities, which account for nearly all global urban growth, are particularly vulnerable. </p>
<p>While rich cities such as Miami, Dubai and Amsterdam are threatened, developing world cities such as Mumbai, Jakarta and Lagos are even more vulnerable due to the cost of developing sea walls, drainage systems and other protective measures. </p>
<p>At the same time, cities, <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/cutting-global-carbon-emissions-where-do-cities-stand">which account for 70% of global emissions</a>, will be at the heart of efforts to mitigate climate change. From encouraging public transport use and the adoption of electric vehicles to developing better systems for heating and waste management, there is much they need to do.</p>
<p>In 1987, Margaret Thatcher is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-quotes">reported to have declared</a>: “There is no such thing as society”, only “individual men and women and families”. In fact, <em>Homo sapiens</em> is a social creature, and our collective prosperity depends on the strength of the bonds between us. If we are to survive the turmoil that lies ahead, we must rediscover our ability to act together. Since their emergence five millennia ago, cities have been central to that. We cannot afford to let them fail.</p>
<p><em>Ian Goldin and Tom Lee-Devlin, <a href="https://linktr.ee/ageofthecity">Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together, Bloomsbury, June 2023</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207317/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Goldin receives funding from Citibank, and the Allan and Gill Gray Foundation.
</span></em></p>Cities are where solutions are found – but also where perils are amplified when we fail to act.Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development; Director of the Oxford Martin Programmes on Technological and Economic Change, The Future of Work and the Future of Development, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060972023-06-21T10:34:01Z2023-06-21T10:34:01ZKenya’s population: 5 key findings in the past 20 years of research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527685/original/file-20230523-19-sqncv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Like many countries on the African continent, Kenya’s population is growing – fast. The country’s population was <a href="https://ncpd.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/61-PB-Why-Population-Issues-are-important.pdf">8.1 million</a> in 1963; today it stands at about <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/data/world-population/KE">55 million</a> people. More people have moved into urban areas too. In 1960 <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=KE">about</a> 7% of the population lived in urban areas; by 2021 it stood at 28%.</p>
<p>Some key changes within Kenya’s society have taken place alongside, and because of, this fast growth. </p>
<p>I’m the executive director of the <a href="https://aphrc.org/">African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)</a>, an organisation which has been documenting population changes and dynamics in Kenya, and other countries, for 20 years. This work has helped to influence public policy and response. </p>
<p>Some of the key challenges identified in Kenya have been:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a large number of urban residents, especially those in informal settlements, without social services such as public health facilities; </p></li>
<li><p>shortage of public schools (government funded); </p></li>
<li><p>widespread non-communicable diseases and their risk factors in urban informal settlements; </p></li>
<li><p>a high number of unsafe abortions driven by high levels of mistimed and unwanted pregnancies; and </p></li>
<li><p>uneven progress in <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">sustainable development goals (SDGs)</a> targets related to mothers, children and adolescents.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These findings are key to driving effective strategies. </p>
<h2>Urban residents without access to services</h2>
<p>Kenya’s development partners have tended to assume that urban areas and residents were well-served by social services, and didn’t need special attention from government and civil society organisations. As a result, in the 1980s and 1990s, poverty alleviation programmes focused on rural areas. </p>
<p>However, in 2002 we <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Urban-Health-in-Kenya_Key-Findings_2000-Nairobi-Cross-sectional-Slum-Survey.pdf">produced evidence</a> that showed huge differences in health, education and other social outcomes among residents of urban informal settlements when compared to other urban residents. For some outcomes, residents of urban informal settlements were doing as badly as rural residents, if not worse. For instance, we found that children living in slums <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Urban-Health-in-Kenya_Key-Findings_2000-Nairobi-Cross-sectional-Slum-Survey.pdf">were sicker</a> than those living elsewhere in Kenya. They were also less likely to get treatment when they were sick.</p>
<p>Our work highlighted the important point that simply presenting national statistics for rural and urban areas, without breaking them down further by socioeconomic status, was highly misleading. If countries were to make progress towards various development targets, urban informal settlements needed special attention. </p>
<p>Understanding this led to the design of projects and programmes by governments and other agencies that targeted disadvantaged urban areas. Over time, great progress has been made and the health and other social indicators in these areas have improved.</p>
<h2>Shortage of public schools</h2>
<p>Free primary education was implemented in Kenya in 2003. Its <a href="https://ossrea.net/publications/images/stories/ossrea/ogola.pdf">main objective</a> was to make primary education accessible to all. Research done at APHRC, however, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0883035511000036">showed</a> that the enrolment of children in public schools went up for a couple of years and then rapidly declined. </p>
<p>In 2012, <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ERP-III-Report.pdf">63%</a> of primary school students in Nairobi urban informal settlements were attending non-government schools, a percentage as high as it had been before the policy. This happened because there were not enough public schools to meet the demand. Parents realised that their children were not receiving the right amount of attention in overcrowded classrooms. Instead, they took their children back to the informal private schools they had been attending before the policy was rolled out.</p>
<p>Once our evidence was shared with the ministry of education, the <a href="https://vision2030.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Re-Alignment-Education-Sector..pdf">Education Taskforce of 2012</a> adopted recommendations to include all learners, including those in non-formal schools, who met set criteria to benefit from capitation grants. This was to ensure that learners in informal settlements benefited from the government programme. </p>
<h2>Widespread diseases in informal settlements</h2>
<p>A key health-related finding was that non-communicable diseases, and their risk factors, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/gha.v8.28697">showed</a> a high prevalence in the urban informal settlements of Nairobi. </p>
<p>There was a huge burden of undiagnosed, untreated and uncontrolled disease. For instance, about <a href="https://journals.lww.com/jhypertension/Abstract/2013/05000/Prevalence,_awareness,_treatment_and_control_of.26.aspx">80%</a> of adults diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure were previously undiagnosed. Among those who had been previously diagnosed, the majority had not received treatment in the past 12 months. Only a fraction had received treatment in the past two weeks. As a result, for every 100 people diagnosed with either condition, only one had it under control. </p>
<p>These findings are vital to understanding existing or potential gaps in a healthcare system. They shaped the APHRC’s subsequent research programmes on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/gha.v6i0.22510">developing models</a> to improve care for chronic conditions in these settings. Some of these have been adopted by Nairobi County and other players. </p>
<h2>Huge number of unsafe abortions in Kenya</h2>
<p>In 2013, APHRC <a href="https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-015-0621-1">published the report</a> of the first ever incidence and magnitude study on unsafe abortion. The study estimated that over 464,000 abortions had been conducted in Kenya, and an estimated 120,000 women sought care in health facilities for complications. According to the World Health Organisation, <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/abortion">4.7% to 13.2% of maternal deaths</a> annually can be attributed to unsafe abortion. </p>
<p>An estimated half (49%) of all pregnancies were unintended and four in ten of these ended in an abortion, highlighting the need for increased access to contraception. </p>
<h2>Uneven progress in supporting mothers and children</h2>
<p>APHRC has been supporting the <a href="https://www.countdown2030.org/">analysis</a> of routine health information and survey data to track African countries’ progress towards meeting the SDG targets related to mothers, children and adolescents. These include the reduction in maternal mortality and the end of preventable deaths of newborns and children.</p>
<p>The analysis – conducted for at least 18 countries – shows a general trend of improvement in various outcomes at the country level, but also huge differences between regions for some indicators. For instance in Kenya, childhood mortality has declined from 99 per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 31 in 2020. Estimates from 2014 show significant regional differences, with the worst performing sub-region (coast) having more than double the rate of child deaths compared with the best performing one (central) – <a href="https://data.unicef.org/countdown-2030/country/Kenya/1/">87.4 against 42.1</a>.</p>
<p>The progress seen at national level can be explained by improvements in health outcomes in some regions, but not all. This analysis is important to provide evidence about how government and development partners can target resources towards disadvantaged regions if Kenya is to <a href="http://countdown2030.org">meet the SDG targets</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206097/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Kyobutungi receives funding from The Hewlett Foundation, Sida and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation</span></em></p>Kenya’s experienced fast population growth and urbanisation - this has brought about some big challenges.Catherine Kyobutungi, Executive Director, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2071202023-06-14T20:11:07Z2023-06-14T20:11:07ZTo deliver enough affordable housing and end homelessness, what must a national strategy do?<p>The Albanese government came to office promising action on housing. Its A$10 billion <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/julie-collins-2022/media-releases/housing-australia-future-fund-draft-legislation">Housing Australia Future Fund</a> is now stuck in the Senate, with the Greens <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/13/labor-guarantees-minimum-500m-each-year-for-housing-in-bid-to-win-greens-support">demanding</a> more ambitious funding and reforms. The government is also working on its promised <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/housing-support-programs-services-housing/national-housing-and-homelessness-plan">National Housing and Homelessness Plan</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/401">research published today</a> by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), we make the case for a housing and homelessness strategy to be an ambitious national project. Its central mission should be to ensure everyone has adequate housing. </p>
<p>We outline the goals, scope and institutions the strategy needs to succeed. The housing numbers it should deliver to meet demand – including 950,000 social and affordable rental dwellings by 2041 – dwarf current <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/julie-collins-2022/media-releases/albanese-government-housing-agenda-already-delivering">government targets</a>.</p>
<p>Our report draws on new thinking about the need for “mission-oriented” governments to tackle complex problems, as well as policy-making approaches here and overseas. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1556858567218458625"}"></div></p>
<h2>Why a strategy?</h2>
<p>Strategies help to clarify the purpose of action for everyone. They bring together information and expertise that inform and stimulate public discussion. They help define priorities. </p>
<p>This is important for housing and homelessness problems because they are complex. They cross over different policy areas and levels of government. They have diverse causes and broad effects. </p>
<p>By the same token, solving these problems can produce diverse benefits. </p>
<p>The goal of “adequate housing for everyone” – the first target of the United Nations’ <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/">Sustainable Development Goal 11</a> – states the challenge clearly.</p>
<p>To meet that challenge, it is useful to think of governments and stakeholders being engaged in a <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2019/dec/missions-beginners-guide">mission</a> that requires government to lead the deliberate shaping of markets and direction of economic activity. Fixing market failures and filling unprofitable gaps in the market isn’t enough. </p>
<p>It’s also useful to think about the special status of governments in financial systems. The Australian government is the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-17/what-is-modern-monetary-theory/12455806">issuer and guarantor of money</a>. It can use this status to finance missions for the public good. </p>
<p>For example, for two years of the COVID-19 emergency, the Reserve Bank of Australia <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/monetary-policy/reviews/bond-purchase-program/">bought bonds</a> issued by federal, state and territory governments totalling $5 billion per week. That’s equivalent to one Housing Australia Future Fund every fortnight.</p>
<h2>Fragmented approach causes problems</h2>
<p>Because Australia is a federation, the federal government must work with state and territory governments to implement policies. Most intergovernmental activity has involved housing and homelessness conceived of as welfare issues. </p>
<p>Responsibility for housing and homelessness policy is divided. The <a href="https://federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/agreements/national-housing-and-homelessness-agreement-0">National Housing and Homelessness Agreement</a> guides policy, but is clearly <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/housing-homelessness/report">deficient</a>. Development of other policy levers, such as <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/housing-support/programmes-services/commonwealth-rent-assistance">Commonwealth Rent Assistance</a>, has languished. </p>
<p>The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (<a href="https://www.nhfic.gov.au/who-we-are/our-contribution">NHFIC</a>) finances and supports efforts to increase the supply of housing, particularly affordable housing. The NHFIC is becoming increasingly important as its functions expand. It’s getting a new name, Housing Australia, to match its remit. </p>
<p>The financial regulators, the Reserve Bank and the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA), are arguably conducting housing policy of their own.</p>
<p>Housing policy responsibilities at the state and territory level are similarly fragmented. </p>
<h2>Lessons from other national strategies</h2>
<p>We examined <a href="https://www.placetocallhome.ca/">Canada’s National Housing Strategy</a>. Its rights-based approach, statutory basis and accountability agencies are important innovations. </p>
<p>However, the Canadian strategy is narrowly focused on affordable rental housing. Key issues of tax and finance are beyond its scope. Looking to European housing policy leaders, such as <a href="https://housingpolicytoolkit.oecd.org/www/CountryFiches/housing-policy-Austria.pdf">Austria</a> and <a href="https://housingpolicytoolkit.oecd.org/www/CountryFiches/housing-policy-Finland.pdf">Finland</a>, we can see the value of broader national strategies and dedicated housing agencies.</p>
<p>We can also learn from other national approaches to policy in Australia, such as <a href="https://www.closingthegap.gov.au/national-agreement">Closing the Gap</a> and <a href="https://www.disabilitygateway.gov.au/ads">Australia’s Disability Strategy</a>. </p>
<p>The first lesson is that making a strategy is itself a strategic exercise. Reformers need to develop the capacity to take on and influence established institutions, vested interests and entrenched ways of thinking. </p>
<p>A dedicated lead agency may be needed to coordinate strategy development and implementation. Accountability is crucial. By this we mean more than accounting for the spending of public money. It is also about demonstrating commitment to the reform process and the people it serves.</p>
<h2>What should the strategy’s goals be?</h2>
<p>The strategy should have a clear mission: everyone in Australia has adequate housing.</p>
<p>The strategy should be comprehensive, with a set of secondary missions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>homelessness is prevented and ended</p></li>
<li><p>social housing meets needs and drives wider housing system improvement</p></li>
<li><p>the system offers more genuine choice – including between ownership and renting</p></li>
<li><p>housing quality is improved</p></li>
<li><p>housing supply is improved</p></li>
<li><p>housing affordability is improved</p></li>
<li><p>the housing system’s contribution to wider economic performance is improved.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>And what policy areas are covered?</h2>
<p>The diagram below shows the strategy’s scope and stages. It begins with the familiar core policy areas covered by the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (bottom left). As the scope of the strategy expands (up and to the right), the intensity of housing policy leadership varies accordingly.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531823/original/file-20230613-19-4v2ip9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphic showing the policy areas to be covered by an Australian Housing and Homelessness Strategy. It indicates 'established core policy areas', 'new core policy areas', 'policy areas for alignment with housing missions', and 'policy areas for articulation with housing missions'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531823/original/file-20230613-19-4v2ip9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531823/original/file-20230613-19-4v2ip9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=177&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531823/original/file-20230613-19-4v2ip9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=177&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531823/original/file-20230613-19-4v2ip9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=177&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531823/original/file-20230613-19-4v2ip9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531823/original/file-20230613-19-4v2ip9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531823/original/file-20230613-19-4v2ip9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The policy areas to be covered by an Australian Housing and Homelessness Strategy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/401">AHURI</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Social housing and homelessness are core policy areas for the strategy. To meet <a href="https://cityfutures.ada.unsw.edu.au/social-and-affordable-housing-needs-costs-and-subsidy-gaps-by-region/">current and future need</a>, it should aim to add 950,000 social and affordable rental housing dwellings by 2041. That’s about 50,000 new dwellings a year – a lot more than the <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/julie-collins-2022/media-releases/albanese-government-housing-agenda-already-delivering">8,000 a year over five years</a> that the Albanese government has promised so far.</p>
<p>The most cost-effective way to finance this growth is a mix of NHFIC bonds and capital grants from government. State and territory governments should make plans to regularly reassess need and delivery. </p>
<p>Housing assistance, residential tenancies law and building quality should be new core policy areas. The National Cabinet’s <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/national-cabinet">recent decision</a> to develop a tenancy law reform agenda to strengthen tenants’ rights is a welcome step.</p>
<p>Housing-related taxation, housing finance and planning and development regimes should be aligned with Australia’s housing and homelessness missions.</p>
<p>Existing national strategies for First Nations and people with disability need strengthening on housing and homelessness as a matter of priority.</p>
<p>The strategy should be laid down in law. The legislation should enshrine the right to adequate housing, nominate Housing Australia as the lead agency, and establish regulatory and accountability agencies.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The author acknowledges his report co-authors, Associate Professor Julie Lawson, Honorary Professor Vivienne Milligan, Chris Hartley, Professor Hal Pawson and Professor Jago Dodson.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207120/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Martin receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and the Australian Research Council (ARC).</span></em></p>The strategy’s core mission should be to ensure everyone in Australia has adequate housing. That requires 950,000 social and affordable rental dwellings to be built by 2041, dwarfing current targets.Chris Martin, Senior Research Fellow, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2062762023-06-14T11:51:55Z2023-06-14T11:51:55ZCanada needs to set its businesses up for success in the clean energy transition<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531454/original/file-20230612-256738-cjrhs2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=52%2C41%2C6945%2C4616&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">To achieve a sustainable future that benefits Canadians, a coordinated response from households, businesses and the government is essential. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Canada <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/agenda-2030.html">committed to the United Nation Sustainability Development Goals</a> (SDGs) in 2015. These <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">17 goals</a> aim to “achieve peace and prosperity for people and the planet.” This is an important, yet challenging, undertaking. </p>
<p>The goals aim to establish a “global partership” to address the pressing issues of our time. Some of these issues include reducing inequalities, promoting quality education, addressing climate change and protecting biodiversity. </p>
<p>When taking action to reduce our impact on the environment, a key challenge is how to transition to cleaner economies. The costs and risks of such an undertaking are clearly not trivial. </p>
<p>An important issue facing the country now is how to prioritize this transition in the face of <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-study-reveals-intensified-housing-inequality-in-canada-from-1981-to-2016-173633">unaffordable housing</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bank-of-canada-january-rate-decision-1.6725283">rising interest rates</a> and <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220517/dq220517d-eng.htm">an uncertain future</a> for upcoming generations.</p>
<h2>Economic uncertainty</h2>
<p>It’s a difficult time for Canadians to consider transitioning to a cleaner, more sustainable future. Canada is projected to have one of the lowest gains in average living standards over the next seven years, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1787/a112307e-en">according to a study from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development</a>. </p>
<p>There are a few reasons for this prediction. One is <a href="https://bcbc.com/insights-and-opinions/canadas-productivity-performance-over-the-past-20-years">Canada’s low level of labour productivity</a> in comparison to other nations like France, the United Kingdom and Italy. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-lagging-productivity-affects-us-all-and-will-take-years-to-remedy-206440">Canada's lagging productivity affects us all — and will take years to remedy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Another concern is Canada’s level of household debt, <a href="https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/blog/2023/risks-canadas-economy-remain-high-household-debt-levels-continue-grow">which is now the highest in the G7</a>, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Canada’s high housing prices, and resulting high levels of debt, <a href="https://financialpost.com/news/economy/canadian-home-prices-dragging-economic-growth">are likely stifling economic growth</a>.</p>
<p>In the face of such economic uncertainty, is it worth investing in a more sustainable Canada, or will it become just another economic burden? The hope is that it will provide an opportunity for Canada to fix some of its more significant problems. It could be Canada’s best hope to improve its economic fortunes. </p>
<h2>Co-ordinated response needed</h2>
<p>To achieve a sustainable future that benefits Canadians, a co-ordinated response from a variety of stakeholders — including households, businesses and the government — is essential. </p>
<p>Such a response needs businesses up front and centre. One reason for this is that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change">much of the world’s CO2 emissions come from businesses</a>. </p>
<p>However, it is also vital that businesses are supported because companies can innovate and thrive, ensuring that <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/ClimateChange/materials/KMBusiness.pdf">sustainability and prosperity can be realized</a>. </p>
<p>Ahead of the Government of Canada’s March 2023 budget announcement, accounting firm <a href="https://kpmg.com/ca/en/home/media/press-releases/2023/03/businesses-need-more-support-to-reach-climate-goals.html">KPMG surveyed</a> medium-sized enterprises. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a dark green suit gestures while speaking to a large crowd of people from behind a podium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531455/original/file-20230612-222332-hltpfk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531455/original/file-20230612-222332-hltpfk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531455/original/file-20230612-222332-hltpfk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531455/original/file-20230612-222332-hltpfk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531455/original/file-20230612-222332-hltpfk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531455/original/file-20230612-222332-hltpfk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531455/original/file-20230612-222332-hltpfk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland delivers the federal budget in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in March 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They found that Canadian businesses are ready to embrace their role in achieving sustainability, but 80 per cent want more support from the government. This includes assistance for capital investment, tax incentives and tax credits. </p>
<p>These measures would make it easier for companies to adopt clean technologies. They would also be crucial for helping Canadian companies compete with their American and European counterparts, which are already receiving green incentives. </p>
<h2>Global green incentives</h2>
<p>Other countries, like the U.S., are shoring up their competitiveness and positioning themselves for a cleaner economy. The U.S. committed nearly US$370 billion to clean energy in its <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/cleanenergy/inflation-reduction-act-guidebook/">Inflation Reduction Act of 2022</a>.</p>
<p>In response, the European Union published its <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_510">Green Deal Industrial Plan</a> in February 2023 to support Europe’s net-zero industry and help it transition to climate neutrality. This included <a href="https://www.allianz.com/en/economic_research/publications/specials_fmo/inflation-reduction-act.html">520 billion euros in support</a> through the Recovery and Resilience Fund and REPowerEU fund.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man with white hair wearing aviator glasses speaks from behind a podium emblazoned with the crest of the U.S. president." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531199/original/file-20230609-23-gz60na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531199/original/file-20230609-23-gz60na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531199/original/file-20230609-23-gz60na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531199/original/file-20230609-23-gz60na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531199/original/file-20230609-23-gz60na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531199/original/file-20230609-23-gz60na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531199/original/file-20230609-23-gz60na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S. President Joe Biden speaks before signing H.R. 5376, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, during a ceremony at White House in September 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>EU member nations have also responded individually. For instance, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/france-offer-new-tax-credit-business-investments-green-technologies-2023-05-11/">France announced a tax credit</a> for renewable investments earlier this month. </p>
<p>Critics might see this trend as a “<a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/beware-risk-of-mutually-sabotaging-competition-on-corporate-subsidies-freeland">race to the bottom</a>” in terms of subsidies and protectionist trade measures. Others, however, might see it as a global effort toward growing market competitiveness.</p>
<p>The desired outcome is a win-win scenario where all market participants benefit through combined global climate action and green investment.</p>
<h2>Federal budget</h2>
<p>The federal government seems to agree that creating a green economy is Canada’s greatest opportunity to generate growth. The <a href="https://climateinstitute.ca/budget-2023-balances-policy-and-programs-with-payments-to-support-clean-growth">2023 budget outlines C$70 billion in investments</a> to address Canada’s competitiveness and transition to clean energy. </p>
<p>This includes a strong package of tax incentives for clean energy, particularly for clean electricity and clean technology manufacturing. </p>
<p>Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2023/03/government-of-canada-releases-budget-2023.html">Chrystia Freeland said</a> she had “never been more optimistic” about the future of Canada than she was on the day the federal budget was announced.</p>
<p>The list of green incentives baked into the 2023 budget is not exhaustive. However, it demonstrates that the federal government is trying to position Canada to be a more competitive, cleaner economy. </p>
<h2>More work to be done</h2>
<p>Given the package of measures in the 2023 budget, Canadian businesses are now better positioned to contribute to saving the planet. However, to compete in the clean economy space they will need continuing support as they seek to compete with other nations. </p>
<p>How this support will manifest is difficult to say, but Canada must take a global perspective when considering the best approach. It needs to be especially mindful of similar budget decisions from other major economies and the potential impact these will have on Canada’s fledgling clean economy. </p>
<p>Will there likely be further tax incentives in the future? We can suspect so. </p>
<p>But more tax incentives are not the only way to provide support. For example, Canada has not clarified how it will manage <a href="https://thoughtleadership.rbc.com/policy-insight-will-budget-2023-spark-a-green-investment-wave/">regulatory issues regarding large clean energy projects</a>. This is an important issue that could either promote or deter clean energy investment. </p>
<p>Some in the research and development sector also felt there was a <a href="https://www.univcan.ca/media-room/media-releases/budget-2023-a-missed-opportunity/">missed opportunity for Canada to invest in its own research capacity</a> to develop the talent needed to ensure the clean economy’s success. </p>
<p>While efforts are being made at the highest levels, there is still much work to do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206276/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the fact of economic uncertainty, one question remains: Is it worth investing in a more sustainable Canada, or will it become just another economic burden?Stuart Snaith, Associate Professor, Gustavson School of Business, University of VictoriaAlison Jean Parker, Assistant Teaching Professor, Gustavson School of Business, University of VictoriaDouglas A. Stuart, Assistant Teaching Professor, Gustavson School of Business, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060442023-06-04T11:19:10Z2023-06-04T11:19:10ZEmotional intelligence is the key to more successful entrepreneurs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528673/original/file-20230526-19-mrzmx4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=100%2C7%2C4376%2C2754&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Entrepreneurship flourishes when individuals in a society possess higher levels of well-being, adaptability, self-control and sociability.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Entrepreneurs have a key role to play in achieving the United Nations <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda">2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development</a>. This action plan, which has been adopted by all UN member countries, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/agenda-2030.html">including Canada</a>, was created to tackle today’s “most pressing social, economic and environmental challenges.”</p>
<p>While governments play a central role in achieving these goals, non- and for-profit organizations can accelerate this progress through innovation. That is where entrepreneurs — anyone who starts or owns a business — come into the picture.</p>
<p>Canada has <a href="https://www.gemconsortium.org/news/canada-performance-strong-compared-to-peers-in-latest-gem-global-report">one of the highest levels of entrepreneurial activity</a> among developed nations and was recently <a href="https://poll2019.trust.org/">ranked the best in the world for social entrepreneurship</a>. Social entrepreneurship focuses on addressing social issues such as poverty, illiteracy and discrimination.</p>
<p>To maintain its position as an entrepreneurial nation, Canada must continue to foster innovation. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-023-00775-1">Our recent research</a> on how emotional intelligence at the societal level impacts entrepreneurship can help Canada, and other nations, accomplish this.</p>
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<h2>About the study</h2>
<p>Using entrepreneurial activity data from the <a href="https://www.gemconsortium.org/">Global Entrepreneurship Monitor</a> in 24 countries, our study found that entrepreneurship flourishes when individuals in society possess higher levels of well-being, adaptability, self-control and sociability.</p>
<p>These are characteristics of societal emotional intelligence — a measure of the collective emotional intelligence of a particular society. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/per.416">Emotional intelligence</a> refers to the ability of an individual to recognize and understand their own emotions, as well as the emotions of others, and use this knowledge to make decisions. </p>
<p>At the societal level, emotional intelligence <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1069397120938690">plays a vital role in addressing challenges</a> present at different stages of the entrepreneurial process, such as idea generation, planning the launch, and growth of an enterprise.</p>
<p>However, the degree to which each characteristic of emotional intelligence impacts entrepreneurship <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jsbm.12289">depends on the type of entrepreneurship</a>.</p>
<h2>Fostering commercial entrepreneurship</h2>
<p>Our research found three characteristics of societal emotional intelligence are more likely to foster commercial entrepreneurship: hedonic well-being, adaptability and self-control. Commercial entrepreneurship leads to innovation that contributes to a country’s economic growth by generating wealth.</p>
<p><strong>1. Hedonic well-being</strong> </p>
<p>Hedonic well-being is one of two types of perceived well-being. It refers to an individual’s perception of their own life satisfaction, happiness, optimism and self-esteem. </p>
<p>Hedonic well-being can help individuals navigate challenging situations that arise when working as an entrepreneur by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2003.08.001">providing them with a sense of control</a> over their situation. </p>
<p>Individuals with high levels of hedonic well-being are more likely to have characteristics associated with successful commercial entrepreneurs. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young woman looking content as she types on an open laptop at a desk in an office." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528674/original/file-20230526-11640-wyl36y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528674/original/file-20230526-11640-wyl36y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528674/original/file-20230526-11640-wyl36y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528674/original/file-20230526-11640-wyl36y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528674/original/file-20230526-11640-wyl36y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528674/original/file-20230526-11640-wyl36y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528674/original/file-20230526-11640-wyl36y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Individuals with high self-esteem are better at navigating challenging situations as they arise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>2. Adaptability</strong> </p>
<p>Individuals with high levels of adaptability are open to new information, willing to let go of preconceived notions and capable of adjusting to new or challenging situations.</p>
<p>An individual’s ability to adapt in the face of adversity sets them apart as exceptional. Individuals that are very successful <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1976-26087-000">often possess higher levels of adaptability</a>.</p>
<p>In the context of commercial entrepreneurship, having a high degree of adaptability <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2014.09.002">allows entrepreneurs to navigate uncertainty</a> and adapt to changes in the business environment.</p>
<p><strong>3. Self-control</strong></p>
<p>Self-control is a mental process that helps individuals <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1252">align their thoughts and behaviours with their goals</a>, particularly during periods of adversity. </p>
<p>Self-control is beneficial for commercial entrepreneurs, as it encourages them to be mindful of the strategies needed to keep their goals in line with the ever-changing business environment. </p>
<p>Because self-control is valuable for managing commercial enterprises, societies that have more individuals with higher levels of self-control are more likely to facilitate commercial entrepreneurship.</p>
<h2>Fostering social entrepreneurship</h2>
<p>Our research found two characteristics of societal emotional intelligence are more likely to foster social entrepreneurship: eudaimonic well-being and sociability. Social entrepreneurship, as previously mentioned, leads to innovation that addresses social issues.</p>
<p><strong>1. Eudaimonic well-being</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.719">Eudaimonic well-being</a> refers to an individual’s perceived autonomy, self-acceptance, sense of purpose and ability to manage their environment.</p>
<p>The characteristics associated with eudaimonic well-being motivate individuals to make <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.09.034">greater contributions to the welfare of others</a> through social entrepreneurship. </p>
<p>While the characteristics of eudaimonic well-being are essential for both types of entrepreneurship, societies with higher levels of eudaimonic well-being tend to foster an environment more conducive for social entrepreneurship.</p>
<p><strong>2. Sociability</strong></p>
<p>The <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/sociability">American Psychological Association defines sociability</a> as the tendency “to seek out companionship, engage in interpersonal relations, and participate in social activities.” </p>
<p>Sociability <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00019.x">has three facets</a>: social awareness, emotional management and assertiveness. It plays a more significant role in social entrepreneurship, so societies with a larger amount of individuals with this trait are more likely to facilitate social entrepreneurship.</p>
<h2>Fostering emotional intelligence</h2>
<p>Entrepreneurship in Canada, both commercial and social, needs to flourish to help the country meet its sustainable development goals. For this to happen, Canada should implement strategies to build emotional intelligence among its entrepreneurs. </p>
<p>One way Canada could do this is by investing in programs to monitor, assess and diagnose ways to improve emotional intelligence among entrepreneurs. </p>
<p>In addition, given that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2012.01.010">emotional intelligence can be developed with training</a>, businesses and innovation hubs should develop emotional competencies among their entrepreneurs.</p>
<p>Finally, Canada should implement education curriculum focused on developing emotional intelligence in students to shape their entrepreneurial behaviours. By equipping students with emotional intelligence skills, Canada will nurture a generation of entrepreneurs ready to create wealth, tackle social challenges and create positive change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Etayankara Muralidharan receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saurav Pathak does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fostering emotional intelligence in entrepreneurs could help Canada meet its sustainable development goals.Etayankara Muralidharan, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of International Business, Marketing, Strategy & Law, MacEwan UniversitySaurav Pathak, Associate Professor, Raymond A. Mason School of Business, William & MaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2046852023-05-31T04:51:40Z2023-05-31T04:51:40ZA sustainable Australia depends on what happens in our cities – that’s why we need a national urban policy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529260/original/file-20230531-29-26w8ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4746%2C3166&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia has not had a national urban policy since the Rudd government. A troika of Liberal PMs followed. Tony Abbott wasn’t interested. Malcolm Turnbull didn’t quite live up to the hype but delivered cross-governmental <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/analysis/brief/australian-city-deals-focus">City Deals</a> and the <a href="https://business.gov.au/grants-and-programs/smart-cities-and-suburbs-program">Smart Cities and Suburbs Program</a>. Scott Morrison at best presided over a business-as-usual approach lacking any resolve, urgency or innovation. </p>
<p>Will this Labor government do any better? Australian cities and regions were not front and centre in the 2022 federal election campaign. But there were signs a Labor government would reinstate a concern for urban policy issues.</p>
<p>The federal budget confirmed the government’s focus on urban policy. It set aside funding for a “national approach for sustainable urban development” and a “cities program”. Last week the government <a href="https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/c-king/media-release/government-listening-experts-urban-policy">appointed the expert members</a> of the Urban Policy Forum announced in the budget. </p>
<p>These are vehicles for delivering a <a href="https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/c-king/media-release/towards-national-approach-cities-and-regions">promised National Urban Policy</a>. The government <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/territories-regions-cities/cities">says</a> this policy “will bring together a vision for sustainable growth in our cities”. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hopes-of-a-new-urban-age-survive-ministers-fall-52975">Hopes of a new urban age survive minister's fall</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why focus on cities?</h2>
<p><a href="https://population.gov.au/population-topics/topic-population">Two in three Australians</a> live in a capital city. Our 21 largest cities are home to 80% of the population. </p>
<p>Cities account for <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/productivity-review/report/productivity-review.pdf">80% of economic activity</a> in Australia. As globally connected hubs, they are crucial sites for community, commerce, infrastructure, biodiversity, governance and democratic processes. Our cities are central to meeting the challenges of a changing climate. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Map of Australia's 21 largest cities" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528190/original/file-20230525-27-9njh7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528190/original/file-20230525-27-9njh7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528190/original/file-20230525-27-9njh7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528190/original/file-20230525-27-9njh7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528190/original/file-20230525-27-9njh7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528190/original/file-20230525-27-9njh7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528190/original/file-20230525-27-9njh7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our 21 largest cities, with 80% of the population, have a huge role to play in achieving a sustainable future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian Urban Observatory</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-planning-is-now-on-the-front-line-of-the-climate-crisis-this-is-what-it-means-for-our-cities-and-towns-193452">Urban planning is now on the front line of the climate crisis. This is what it means for our cities and towns</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has skin in the game. He was the minister for infrastructure and transport in the Gillard government. He oversaw the first truly national urban policy, <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2679/Our_Cities_National_Urban_Policy_Paper_2011.pdf?1684550015">Our Cities, Our Future</a>, in 2011.</p>
<p>In 2021, Albanese <a href="https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/media-centre/the-future-of-our-cities-10-march-2021">declared</a> that “cities policy has been one of the abiding passions of my time in public life”. He foreshadowed a new national policy framework. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://budget.gov.au/content/bp1/download/bp1_bs-1.pdf">budget papers</a> specifically refer to the <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/meeting-national-cabinet-better-future-federation">National Cabinet agreement</a> on April 28 on national priorities. Among these is “Better Planning for Stronger Growth reforms to support a national approach to the growth of cities, towns, and suburbs”. </p>
<p>The budget commits <a href="https://budget.gov.au/">nearly A$400 million</a> over four years in new grants and investments in “Thriving Suburbs” and “Urban Precincts and Partnerships”. Some $11 million goes to a Cities and Suburbs Unit to deliver a National Urban Policy. The policy is required to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>address urgent challenges facing our major cities – from equitable access to jobs, homes and services, to climate impacts and decarbonisation. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Looking down the street of an outer suburban development" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528975/original/file-20230530-21-yxp80q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528975/original/file-20230530-21-yxp80q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528975/original/file-20230530-21-yxp80q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528975/original/file-20230530-21-yxp80q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528975/original/file-20230530-21-yxp80q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528975/original/file-20230530-21-yxp80q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528975/original/file-20230530-21-yxp80q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Outer suburbs distant from services and workplaces create problems for the sustainability of our cities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">R. Freestone</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/state-of-the-environment-report-shows-our-growing-cities-are-under-pressure-but-were-seeing-positive-signs-too-187265">State of the Environment report shows our growing cities are under pressure – but we’re seeing positive signs too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>An overdue development</h2>
<p>Urban development has been “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00979-5">undervalued in national discussion</a>” globally, not only in Australia. But in recent years various bodies, inquiries and forums have pushed for a new-look national urban policy.</p>
<p>The Planning Institute of Australia has long called for a coherent governance framework for spatial plans, infrastructure, growth management and urban renewal. Without a national cities plan, a <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2680/Through_the_Lens-_The_Tipping_Point.pdf?1684550414">2018 report</a> by the institute said, “all jurisdictions will be disadvantaged when making resource allocation decisions and planning for basic enabling infrastructure”.</p>
<p>In the same year, a federal <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2681/BuildingUp_MovingOut.pdf_fileType_application_pdf.pdf?1684550659">parliamentary inquiry</a> into the Australian government’s role in city development called for “a national plan of settlement, providing a national vision for our cities and regions across the next 50 years”.</p>
<p>In 2019, Future Earth Australia, based at the Australian Academy of Sciences, advanced a ten-year <a href="https://www.futureearth.org.au/publications/sustainable-cities-strategy">national strategy</a> for sustainable cities and regions. This strategy is aligned with the Australian achievement of the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">UN Sustainable Development Goals</a>. </p>
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<h2>New ideas for Australian cities and regions</h2>
<p>We must take seriously the economic, social and environmental impacts of long-term population growth and development. To become a more equitable and sustainable country, action on the uneven experiences of Australian cities and regions must be a government priority.</p>
<p>In 2021, an Australian Academy of Social Sciences workshop on <a href="https://socialsciences.org.au/workshop/australian-urban-policy-achievements-failures-challenges/">Australian Urban Policy: Achievements, Failures, Challenges</a> was undertaken jointly at the City Futures Research Centre, UNSW, and Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University. More than 50 researchers and practitioners explored the many issues competing for urban policy attention at the national level.</p>
<p>Key areas included water, climate change, Indigeneity, transport, migration, population settlement and new cities. Urban green space, biodiversity, digital technologies, economic productivity, social inclusion and affordable housing supply were also identified as issues that cut across national policy agendas. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-we-want-liveable-cities-in-2060-well-have-to-work-together-to-transform-urban-systems-119235">If we want liveable cities in 2060 we'll have to work together to transform urban systems</a>
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<p>Constitutional constraints mean states must play a leading role in national urban policy. Fortunately, these constraints don’t rule out inter-governmental partnerships. There are many, often poorly integrated policies, programs and initiatives across all levels of government. </p>
<p>There was consensus at the workshop on the need to transcend the political ideology and expediency that have led to fragmented urban policies. A different kind of national politics focused on sustainability, resilience and regeneration is required. </p>
<p>The “secret” to sustainability lies in an integrated national framework of policies and strategies for city-regions. All three tiers of government need to buy into it. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528973/original/file-20230530-34545-wmgf5g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphic of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528973/original/file-20230530-34545-wmgf5g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528973/original/file-20230530-34545-wmgf5g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528973/original/file-20230530-34545-wmgf5g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528973/original/file-20230530-34545-wmgf5g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528973/original/file-20230530-34545-wmgf5g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528973/original/file-20230530-34545-wmgf5g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528973/original/file-20230530-34545-wmgf5g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Coordinated urban policy action across Australia is needed to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/news/communications-material/">United Nations</a></span>
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<h2>National urban policy redux</h2>
<p>There is a “back to the future” quality in some of the Albanese moves. They re-invent Rudd-Gillard initiatives, and Turnbull’s City Deals remain. Action on affordable housing supply and urban inequalities has been less forceful to date. </p>
<p>Sitting alongside what seem like far-reaching environmental actions, including a new Net Zero Authority, the revival of urban policy at the national level is welcome. So too would be the discussion, consultation and research required to secure a resilient and sustainable future.</p>
<p>A national urban policy offers opportunities for cities, towns and regions.
It’s also essential if Australia is to meet its national and international obligations, notably the UN’s <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda">2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development</a>. </p>
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<p><em>Australian Urban Policy: Prospects and Pathways is a report on the UNSW-RMIT workshop edited by the authors and with over 30 contributors. It will be published by ANU Press in late 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204685/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Freestone receives funding from The Australian Research Council. He is affiliated to the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Academy of Humanities, and the Planning Institute of Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Randolph receives funding from The Australian Research Council. He is affiliated to The Academy of the Social Sciences Australia, the Planning Institute of Australia, and the Australasian Housing Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Steele receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Australian Academy of Social Sciences. She is affiliated with the Australasian Cities Research Network (ACRN), Planning Institute of Australia and Future Earth Australia.</span></em></p>Our largest cities, home to 80% of the population, are central to achieving sustainability in a time of climate change. The federal government has begun to act on the need for coherent urban policies.Robert Freestone, Professor of Planning, School of Built Environment, UNSW SydneyBill Randolph, Professor, City Futures Research Centre, Faculty of the Built Environment, UNSW SydneyWendy Steele, Interim Director, Urban Futures Enabling Impact Platform, and Professor in Sustainability and Urban Policy, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2022972023-05-15T18:02:57Z2023-05-15T18:02:57ZArts activities can provoke empathy and inspire youth action on urgent UN global goals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524992/original/file-20230508-40482-8p5odk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C235%2C4031%2C2553&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'The Sad and Cheerful Story of a Certain Dandelion' was a theatre project in Poland that saw students create a script encouraging audiences to protect the local species. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/youth">Young people have a vital role to play in addressing global crises</a> today. Around the world, arts education is helping youth understand the issues, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1504/IJTM.2012.049104">connect with them emotionally and take action</a>.</p>
<p>The United Nations <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a> identify some of the most critical challenges confronting humanity.
These include taking <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13">urgent action to combat climate change</a> and its impacts (Goal 13), promoting
<a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/peace-justice">just, peaceful and inclusive</a> societies (Goal 16), and <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/biodiversity/">conserving life on land</a> (Goal 15). </p>
<p>Together these goals indicate a path toward a healthy future for our communities and planet. My research investigates how arts education is advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Here are some examples.</p>
<h2>Climate action</h2>
<p>Visual, performing and narrative arts are moving beyond just raising awareness about climate change. Diego Galafassi, who researches the <a href="https://www.diegogalafassi.live/about">role of the arts in sustainability</a>, argues <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.12.010">the arts can foster the disposition and imagination</a> required to address the climate crisis. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2016.02.006">Arts activities can provoke positive emotions</a> such as hope, responsibility, care and solidarity that, in turn, inspire resilience and climate action.</p>
<p>In an <a href="https://kunstzone.nl/arts-for-transformative-education-seeking-survey-participants/">international survey of arts educators</a> that I am undertaking, a respondent from Québec described a project with high school students. Building on a vibrant tradition of <a href="https://theconversation.com/eco-art-design-and-architecture-can-be-agents-of-environmental-change-in-the-public-realm-167689">climate change artwork</a>, the young artists created publicly displayed sculptures. </p>
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<p>First, students informed themselves about the various issues associated with the climate emergency (<a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-is-witnessing-more-thunderstorm-impacts-than-ever-before-188288">extreme weather</a>, air pollution, <a href="https://www.artworksforchange.org/melting-ice-a-hot-topic-2/">melting ice</a>, forest fires and so on). Next, each student chose an issue that was personally meaningful and created a sculpture to address it. Finally, the students identified a location to exhibit their work for maximum impact, taking into consideration the people most affected and those who were causing the problem. </p>
<p>The students exercised the potential of art to leverage visual codes for communicating, engaging and provoking action.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/6-ways-to-build-resilience-and-hope-into-young-peoples-learning-about-climate-change-177718">6 ways to build resilience and hope into young people's learning about climate change</a>
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<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2021.100047">Eco-anxiety</a> is a very real source of distress for young people today. As a key <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-climate-change-keeping-you-up-at-night-you-may-have-climate-anxiety-202206132761">coping strategy</a>, medical professionals recommend taking action to understand and address environmental concerns. As this example illustrates, the arts can serve as a venue for young people to actively engage with the issues.</p>
<h2>Just and peaceful societies</h2>
<p>The arts promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies through a variety of mechanisms. Arts activities can frame a relationship or issue in ways that <a href="https://www.michaelshank.tv/strategic-arts-based-peacebuilding/">strengthen empathy and open minds to new perspectives</a> and possibilities for change. </p>
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<p>The arts can facilitate dialogue between opposing groups, rebuild empathy and trust in communities ravaged by conflict <a href="https://culture360.asef.org/resources/contribution-art-and-culture-peace-and-reconciliation-processes-asia-cku-publication/">and promote tolerance and acceptance of ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity</a> which find expression in varied arts genres.</p>
<p>My research team interviewed a theatre and music teacher in the Democratic Republic of Congo. At a time of intense conflict, he formed a youth choir to promote peace. The choir addressed politicians through a program of song and dance entitled <em>Blessed are the Princes of Peace</em>. The choir performed at the seat of the National Assembly in Kinshasa and at peace-building events. </p>
<p>The teacher told us collaborating for this cause developed a powerful sense of solidarity amongst the performers. They were drawn together by their mutual commitment. The experience enabled them to see the potential of artistic work for drawing and focusing attention on crucial societal issues.</p>
<h2>Life on land</h2>
<p>The arts can also contribute to biodiversity conservation. <a href="https://www.artworksforchange.org/natures-toolbox-biodiversity-art-and-invention/">Artists tell stories</a> of how biodiversity contributes to our quality of life and how human activities impact the loss of species. They envision possibilities for more harmonious human-nature interactions.</p>
<p>In the survey of arts educators, a teacher at a school in Poland described an elaborate theatre project with primary students. <em>The Sad and Cheerful Story of a Certain Dandelion</em> featured a local plant species, <em><a href="https://www.gbif.org/species/5696370">Taraxacum Pieninicum</a></em>, in danger of extinction. Students learned about the plant, created a script explaining threats to the species’ survival and encouraged audiences to take action to protect it. </p>
<p>The show was performed with different casts across the country between 2010 and 2019. The teacher reported students learned theatrical skills and the importance of taking care of the natural environment. The project also gave the children the chance to powerfully experience how they can advocate through art.</p>
<p>For young people seeking to engage with the world’s most critical challenges, the UN Sustainable Development Goals can serve as an entry point. The arts open up possibilities to take action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202297/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Bolden has received funding from the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. </span></em></p>For young people seeking to engage with the world’s most critical challenges, the UN Sustainable Development Goals can serve as an entry point. The arts open up possibilities to take action.Benjamin Bolden, Associate Professor; UNESCO Chair in Arts and Learning, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2022122023-05-11T18:16:45Z2023-05-11T18:16:45ZThe triple challenge facing impact investments in the developing world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525575/original/file-20230511-9582-efkzv2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C1911%2C1310&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">By the end of 2020, the size of the impact investment market was estimated at US$715 billion.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/68751915@N05/6848822477">Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The term <em>impact investing</em> first appeared in 2007 at a <a href="https://books.google.fr/books?hl=fr&lr=&id=LhxIwPYYhfEC">Rockefeller Foundation meeting</a>. It is defined as an investment with the intention of generating a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24703550">positive social and environmental impact</a> as well as a financial return.</p>
<p>Supported by powerful institutional actors at the international level (G8, OECD and UN), impact investing is growing. At the end of 2020, the size of the market was estimated at <a href="https://thegiin.org/research/publication/impinv-survey-2020/">US$715 billion</a> by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), a network of actors considered to be a major player in the impact-investing ecosystem.</p>
<h2>A complex ecosystem</h2>
<p>Impact investors are generally divided into two main types: private impact investors (PIIs), which include foundations or third-party investors such as private equity funds, pension funds and other institutional investors, and development finance institutions (DFIs), which are government-backed financial institutions.</p>
<p>On the demand side, the actors are social enterprises, cooperatives, for-profit enterprises with a social mission and non-profit entities that require capital to develop from a social or environmental perspective. They range from <a href="https://sajbm.org/index.php/sajbm/article/view/1601">small to large entities</a>. For example, in the Philippines, many for-profit social enterprises are developing, such as <a href="https://fhmoms.com/">Filipina Home-based Moms</a>, an organisation that trains mothers in digital skills to help them prepare for online jobs. In another area, Futuristic Aviation and Maritime Enterprise is developing a transponder that tracks small fishing boats at sea to increase the safety of fishermen.</p>
<p>GIIN estimates that achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 in <a href="https://theconversation.com/fr/topics/pays-emergents-26780">emerging countries</a> will cost <a href="https://www.oecd.org/newsroom/Covid-19-crisis-threatens-sustainable-development-goals-financing.htm">about US$2.5 trillion per year</a>. Once reserved to the public sector, the area of social enterprise is now increasingly attracting private capital, enabling governments to make progress toward SDGs. </p>
<p>[<em>Nearly 80,000 readers look to The Conversation France’s newsletter for expert insights into the world’s most pressing issues</em>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/fr/newsletters/la-newsletter-quotidienne-5?utm_source=inline-70ksignup">Sign up now</a>]</p>
<p>Our recent <a href="https://books.google.fr/books?id=5nCVEAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA378">research</a> on emerging Asia details the key challenges impact investing still faces today if it is to be effective.</p>
<h2>First challenge: mitigating country risk</h2>
<p>An appropriate governance framework, including effective public administration, respect for the rule of law, low levels of corruption and transparency in business procedures, is necessary for impact investing to develop, as it helps to <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/development/cooperation-pour-le-developpement-2016/investir-en-produisant-un-impact-social-dans-les-pays-en-developpement_dcr-2016-11-fr">reduce country risk for investors</a>.</p>
<p>The OECD proposes a framework as a tool for governments, and the first step is to define impact investing’s legal framework. For example, the Philippines and Thailand have done this by adopting a legal definition of social enterprises. In contrast, the Indonesian government’s failure to define impact investing may have been an obstacle to its development.</p>
<h2>Challenge two: developing non-financial intermediaries</h2>
<p>In order to achieve a mutual understanding between impact investing’s supply and demand sides, exchanges of knowledge and experience are essential to highlight what works and what does not and to ensure that appropriate incentives are in place on both sides.</p>
<p>On the demand side, investment funds, contract development and management skills support structures are increasingly used to support the emergence and growth of social entrepreneurs. In addition, there is a need for local enterprises to better understand the rules of the game. The exchange of good practice can be very helpful. This is why networks are essential to match supply with demand.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://avpn.asia/">Asian Venture Philanthropy Network</a> (AVPN) is a good example of such a network. There are also American accelerators such as Dao Ventures, or the <a href="https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/blog/social-impact-investing-china-tipping-point">Rockefeller Foundation</a>.</p>
<h2>Challenge 3: Measuring non-financial impact</h2>
<p>Evaluating the impact is difficult both in terms of measurement and in terms of impact-investing data. Some of these difficulties are not new. The social impact of microfinance has been the subject of much <a href="https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/publications/what-is-the-evidence-of-the-impact-of-microfinance-on-the-well-be">debate</a>. Some progress has been made in this area with the development by the GIIN of the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS), a catalogue of <a href="https://www.inclusivebusiness.net/ib-knowledge/ib-choice/enquete-annuelle-2018-sur-les-investisseurs-impact">performance metrics</a> used by impact investors to measure the social returns of their investments.</p>
<p>These metrics are one of the first tools for investors to measure and compare across investments or portfolios. There are also alternatives such as the Acumen Fund’s Lean Data methodology. However, there is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1098214018779141">consensus</a> about the many limitations of existing measurement devices.</p>
<h2>Specific approaches</h2>
<p>The same issues that are at stake in developed countries – standardisation of procedures, transparency, the danger of “impact-washing” – also exist in emerging countries but with some specificities.</p>
<p>First, standardisation must be tempered by the need for specific (local and idiosyncratic) approaches. Otherwise, it can impose on companies approaches that do not allow for proper development management and are resource intensive.</p>
<p>Second, the challenges of transparency need to be balanced against the issue of political power, as the challenges of transparency differ between democratised and non-democratised countries. The challenge of measuring impact concerns all countries, but in a sense it is accentuated for emerging countries because of the inadequacy of information systems and because social impact is more important than environmental impact and the difficulties of measurement are more numerous.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The development effectiveness of these investments could be enhanced by, among other things, greater transparency or better impact measurement.Emmanuelle Dubocage, Professeur des Universités en finance, Directrice du laboratoire IRG, Université Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne (UPEC)Evelyne Rousselet, Maître de conférences, Université Gustave EiffelLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2033142023-04-16T12:19:06Z2023-04-16T12:19:06ZInvesting in employee ownership could help the Canadian government meet its sustainability goals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520931/original/file-20230413-18-sbbnce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C31%2C7060%2C4689&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Employee-owned firms have better organizational performance and tend to be more resilient in the face of economic disruptions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Buried deep in the Canadian government’s 2023 budget, and overshadowed by other announcements, is a plan to <a href="https://www.budget.canada.ca/2023/report-rapport/chap3-en.html#a11">create an employee ownership trust</a> — a specialized legal structure that makes it easier for business owners to sell equity to their employees.</p>
<p>We know from decades of research in other jurisdictions, like the <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300209334/the-citizens-share/">United States</a>, that mechanisms like this can have major benefits for workers and businesses. However, the potential benefits of this trust go beyond the workplace.</p>
<p>Building a strong foundation for employee ownership could also be a cost-effective way to tackle <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/priorities-priorites/agenda-programme.aspx?lang=eng">Canada’s sustainability priorities</a> — if we get it right. </p>
<p>This means ensuring employee-owners play a meaningful, active role in their company’s decision-making processes. It also means bolstering efforts to encourage the widespread use of the new trust through education and incentives.</p>
<h2>Benefits of employee ownership</h2>
<p>The economic benefits of employee ownership for workers, businesses and communities are <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300209334/the-citizens-share/">well-established</a>. </p>
<p>After all, we all know the difference ownership makes. Think about rental cars and hotel rooms. When we use something we don’t own, we tend to be less careful than we would be with our own cars or homes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/employee-owned-companies-perform-better-but-are-resisted-by-banks-lawyers-and-governments-117154">Employee-owned companies perform better, but are resisted by banks, lawyers and governments</a>
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<p>Similarly — and not surprisingly — employees with a sense of ownership are more likely to work harder for their company, which leads to <a href="https://wol.iza.org/articles/does-employee-ownership-improve-performance/long">better organizational performance</a>. Employee-owners also have more wealth at retirement, get paid higher wages and enjoy better job quality and security.</p>
<p>Employee-owned firms tend to be more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/S0885-3339(2013)0000014006">resilient in the face of economic disruptions</a>, <a href="https://www.employeeownershipfoundation.org/research/employee-owned-firms-excel-at-employee-retention-during-pandemic">like the pandemic</a>, which means they are also better at anchoring the well-being of surrounding communities.</p>
<h2>Addressing sustainability priorities</h2>
<p>Given the benefits of employee ownership, the trust could address at least three of the sustainable development goals highlighted in <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/agenda-2030.html">Canada’s 2030 Agenda</a>: reduced inequality, decent work and economic growth and sustainable cities and communities. </p>
<p>Increased employee ownership could also drive progress on other sustainability priorities, like <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/conservation.html">environmental protection</a>. Recent research shows that granting ownership to non-executive employees <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-023-05334-y">increases expenditures on environmental protection</a> and improves the quality of environmental disclosures.</p>
<p>Employee representation on boards of directors can facilitate better <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/corg.12345">environmental, social and governance performance</a>. And financial incentives and strong social relations among employees <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3163-1">facilitate sustainable innovation</a>. </p>
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<img alt="Person holding a mobile phone with a grid of colourful icons on it. Across the top of the phone screen it says 'Sustainable Development Goals.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520922/original/file-20230413-19-zjjmzi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520922/original/file-20230413-19-zjjmzi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520922/original/file-20230413-19-zjjmzi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520922/original/file-20230413-19-zjjmzi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520922/original/file-20230413-19-zjjmzi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520922/original/file-20230413-19-zjjmzi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520922/original/file-20230413-19-zjjmzi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Sustainable Development Goals are a set of objectives that were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 to bring ‘peace and prosperity’ to people and the planet by 2030.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>One reason for these anticipated benefits is that, unlike distant shareholders, employee-owners are more likely to <a href="https://cusp.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/10-Democratising-firms-online.pdf">experience the positive and negative effects</a> of their companies. An ownership stake makes employees more likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-023-05334-y">put pressure on management to address workplace issues</a>. </p>
<p>Another reason is that the successful implementation of corporate sustainability strategies often requires employees to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9881-2">go beyond immediate job responsibilities</a>. Employees are more likely to do this when they feel the responsibility of ownership. </p>
<p>Finally, when a critical mass of employees become owners, as is the case with worker co-operatives, it can create a self-reinforcing culture of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811542">corporate social responsibility</a>, especially when supported by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125618778853">strong leadership and bold mission statements</a>. </p>
<h2>The importance of participation</h2>
<p>Like any business model, employee ownership is not a panacea on its own. Researchers have highlighted how the economic benefits of employee ownership are contingent on supportive management practices, particularly those that encourage employee participation. </p>
<p>Building a sense of <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2003.tb00242.x">psychological ownership</a> through participative management is important for organizational effectiveness. Though research on this topic is nascent, the same logic likely applies for sustainability performance. For example, we know that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125618778853">increased opportunities for participation</a> are critical for cultivating bottom-up sustainability-related innovations in employee-owned firms.</p>
<p>There’s a top-down influence as well. <a href="https://employeeownership.co.uk/resources/what-the-evidence-tells-us/">Nearly three-quarters of employee-owned businesses in the U.K.</a> had social and environmental statements of purpose, and almost all involved employees in decision-making. </p>
<p>This means that governments and businesses seeking to maximize the broader benefits of the employee ownership trust will have to pay close attention to participation. It’s promising that <a href="https://www.budget.canada.ca/2023/report-rapport/chap3-en.html#m32">Budget 2023 committed to gathering feedback</a> on how best to foster employee participation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a green blazer gestures while speaking from behind a podium to a crowd of people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520364/original/file-20230411-18-d8w8h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520364/original/file-20230411-18-d8w8h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520364/original/file-20230411-18-d8w8h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520364/original/file-20230411-18-d8w8h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520364/original/file-20230411-18-d8w8h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520364/original/file-20230411-18-d8w8h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520364/original/file-20230411-18-d8w8h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland delivers the federal budget in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 28, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
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<p>Fortunately, we have a wealth of knowledge at our disposal about the different forms this participation can take. Opportunities for meaningful and effective participation <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X99202004">span the business organization</a>, all the way from the assembly line to the board room. </p>
<p>Well-designed employee participation is not a constraint on management. In fact, employee engagement is key to realizing the <a href="https://cleo.rutgers.edu/articles/employee-ownership-the-new-source-of-competitive-advantage/">long-term competitive advantage of employee ownership</a>, while simultaneously driving corporate sustainability.</p>
<h2>Not a moment too soon</h2>
<p>These economic, social and environmental benefits are contingent upon many Canadian business owners deciding to sell their companies to employees. There are two important considerations that need to be highlighted here. </p>
<p>First, current and future business owners need to know about employee ownership and its wide-ranging benefits. Educational institutions, particularly business schools, need to step up their efforts to spread the word about its benefits. The <a href="https://cleo.rutgers.edu/">Curriculum Library for Employee Ownership</a>, which we are contributing to, has a wealth of resources educators can use. </p>
<p>Second, governments must provide the right incentives to support the <a href="https://assets.ctfassets.net/lsxe9ikcquzl/2QEZwE9Xzy05euZ8WsGlKS/8e2cd75b929acf3882704aac7702f421/Possible_Uptake_of_Employee_Ownership_Trusts_in_Canada.pdf">widespread adoption</a> of participatory forms of employee ownership to realize economic, social and environmental outcomes. </p>
<p>In recognition of these broader impacts, calls are emerging to consider financial support for employee ownership transitions as a <a href="https://cleo.rutgers.edu/articles/impact-investing-and-employee-ownership/">viable investment strategy for impact-oriented investors</a>. </p>
<p>Research in other jurisdictions like the <a href="https://hbr.org/1987/09/how-well-is-employee-ownership-working">U.S.</a>, <a href="https://employeeownership.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/White-Rose-Centre-for-employee-ownership-survey-2019-report.pdf">United Kingdom</a> and <a href="https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2012/recent-trends-in-employee-financial-participation-in-the-european-union">Europe</a> shows that incentives and policies, like <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-capital-gains-tax-exemption-employee-owned-companies/">beneficial tax treatment for capital gains</a> and employer contributions, can add to this momentum.</p>
<p>This is an exciting moment for Canadian business and labour. With the right next steps, Canada’s new employee ownership trust is poised to help us transition to a more equitable, sustainable and just economy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203314/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Pek receives funding from the University of Victoria's President's Chair award and the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University through this appointment as a Social Capital Partners Fellow. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorin Busaan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Canadian government’s proposed employee ownership trust could have positive impacts that go beyond workers and businesses.Lorin Busaan, PhD Student, Gustavson School of Business, University of VictoriaSimon Pek, Associate Professor of Business and Society, Gustavson School of Business, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2033902023-04-12T17:38:00Z2023-04-12T17:38:00ZGender-blind policies ignore the disproportionate effects of water crisis on women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520367/original/file-20230411-22-y469z1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=67%2C114%2C4425%2C2856&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">On average, women spend more time than men collecting and transporting water.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The demand for water resources is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41545-019-0039-9">higher than ever before</a>. The growing global population, expanding industrial development and the impacts of climate change are exacerbating the global water crisis. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/">recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report</a> highlighted the rising threats to water security and irreversible losses in freshwater ecosystems as climate change worsens. The <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/conferences/water2023">UN Water Conference 2023</a>, which took place in New York last month, called attention to the slow progress on water-related sustainable development goals globally. </p>
<p>Scientists as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations are conducting research and organizing conferences to find ways to meet the growing demand for access to clean water.</p>
<p>While it is vital that we discuss water governance solutions to mitigate the crisis we are in, we also need to include women into these conversations to create holistic solutions that benefit those affected the most.</p>
<h2>Women and water</h2>
<p>The stress on surface and ground water resources is restricting social and economic development globally, and women face the worst of this crisis.</p>
<p>On average, women spend more time than men collecting and transporting water. For example, the UN estimated that women in Malawi spend <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-collecting-water-often-colossal-waste-time-women-and-girls">54 minutes collecting water</a> while their male counterparts spend six minutes. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aDipzXBGAao?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Women are more likely to be severely affected by natural disasters and water contamination.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Women are also more likely to be severely affected by natural disasters and water contamination. <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/hundreds-millions-face-health-risk-water-pollution-rises-across-three">Organic pollution</a> — caused when large amounts of organic material is released into water bodies — in Latin American, African and Asian rivers has been putting public health, food security and the economy at risk. </p>
<p>It has also cultivated inequality by predominantly affecting the poor, women and children. This is because a lack of clean water, sanitation and hygiene <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/environmental_protection-protection_environnement/water-eau.aspx?lang=eng">disproportionately affects women and girls</a> who need it to avoid infections and for their physical safety and security.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/801406/women-resilience-mongolia.pdf">Women’s Resilience in Mongolia report</a> highlights similar inequalities in accessing resources, education and household responsibilities for women in Mongolia. </p>
<p>These differences systematically disadvantage women and girls, making them more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and disasters. Women with <a href="https://www.prb.org/resources/women-more-vulnerable-than-men-to-climate-change/">lower incomes and minimal educational opportunities bear most of the household responsibilities</a>, and have to travel further to collect water during extreme weather conditions like droughts. </p>
<h2>Women missing in water governance</h2>
<p>Despite <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs/sdg-6-clean-water-sanitation">how vulnerable women are</a> to the ongoing water crisis, water and environmental governance has historically been gender-blind. Policy-making has not accounted for how differently water scarcity affects women. It has also failed to engage with women to put forward solutions to address the water crisis around the world. </p>
<p>The most recent World Bank annual <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099651310112237118/pdf/IDU02630952a0a3b9045bf0a995018b430d56817.pdf">report on the Central Asia Water and Energy Program</a>, for example, does not discuss any gender-specific commitments or approaches to women’s access to water resources.</p>
<p>Water policies ignore the fact that women are disproportionately affected by water issues. All around the world, women engage in more water-intensive activities such as cooking and cleaning. It has been estimated that women and children across the world spend <a href="https://water.org/our-impact/water-crisis/womens-crisis/">200 million hours a day</a> collecting water, hours that could be better spent in school or at work.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1493511858443243523"}"></div></p>
<p>This further contributes to gender inequalities. </p>
<p>Large-scale initiatives are starting to take into consideration the lack of women’s participation and are taking action to correct this, including the water sector projects funded by the Asian Development Bank. These <a href="https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/150953/women-water-and-leadership.pdf">community-led projects</a> have supported women’s leadership in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Georgia, the Laos, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.</p>
<h2>The future of water governance</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/">latest IPCC report</a> predicts higher-than-usual summer temperatures and greater unpredictability in the patterns of precipitation. These projections will only worsen current stresses on water resources. </p>
<p>We need more holistic approaches to water governance that helps eliminate gender inequalities. The <a href="https://www.oecd.org/cfe/regionaldevelopment/Women-in-water-decision-making-final.pdf">OECD estimates that less than 17 per cent</a> of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) labour force in developing nations comprises women and an even smaller fraction are involved in policy and regulation.</p>
<p>It’s therefore no surprise that the most common causes for gender inequality at the decision-making level are <a href="https://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-development/1850708.pdf">gendered stereotypes, cultural norms and “male-dominated” political structures</a>. We need female representation in key decision-making bodies. </p>
<p>The biggest barrier to addressing the lack of women’s representation and participation in the water sector is the lack context-specific information on gender and water relations in most countries. Closing these data gaps is essential for achieving gender-related SDG commitments.</p>
<p>No one should be left behind as we address the unprecedented challenges that a warming climate will bring upon us. The water crisis is a women’s crisis. Women need to be equal partners in the process of creating more just and effective water governance systems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203390/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bolormaa Purevjav received funding from MITACS for water management research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elena Gordillo Fuertes received funding from the Institute of Asian Research for her research on water management in Mongolia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adiya Baratova Tudiyarova does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The water crisis is a women’s crisis. Women need to be equal partners in the process of creating more just and effective water governance systems.Bolormaa Purevjav, Researcher, Fellow, Institute of Asian Research, PhD candidate, Mining Engineering Department, UBC, University of British ColumbiaAdiya Baratova Tudiyarova, MA student in Public Policy and Global Affiars, University of British ColumbiaElena Gordillo Fuertes, MA student in Public Policy and Research Fellow, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2029002023-03-30T12:27:44Z2023-03-30T12:27:44ZCan this former CEO fix the World Bank and solve the world’s climate finance and debt crises as the institution’s next president?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518289/original/file-20230329-28-7q3t3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C4848%2C3193&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ajay Banga is expected to become the next World Bank president.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/candidate-to-head-the-world-bank-ajay-banga-gestures-as-he-news-photo/1247854109">Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past two years, a drumbeat of calls for reforming the World Bank has pushed its way onto the front pages of major newspapers and the agenda of heads of state.</p>
<p>Many low- and middle-income countries – the population the World Bank is tasked with helping – are falling deeper into debt and facing growing costs as the impacts of climate change increase in severity. A chorus of critics accuse the World Bank of <a href="https://www.bmz.de/en/news/press-releases/schulze-world-bank-annual-meetings-2022-125264">failing to evolve</a> to <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1258">meet the crises</a>.</p>
<p>The job of leading that reform now falls to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/23/biden-world-bank-nomination/">Ajay Banga</a>, an Indian American businessman and former CEO of Mastercard who was nominated by President Joe Biden to replace resigning World Bank President <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/15/climate/david-malpass-world-bank.html">David Malpass</a>. </p>
<p>Banga, <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2023/03/30/closing-of-nominations-for-world-bank-group-president">the only candidate</a> for the job, <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2023/05/03/ajay-banga-selected-14th-president-of-the-world-bank">was confirmed</a> by the World Bank’s <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/directors">executive directors</a> on May 3, 2023. His five-year term as president begins on June 2. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Ajay Banga, wearing a traditional Sikh turban and business suit, gestures as he speaks in front of a photo of workers picking vegetables." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518305/original/file-20230329-16-80inab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518305/original/file-20230329-16-80inab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518305/original/file-20230329-16-80inab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518305/original/file-20230329-16-80inab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518305/original/file-20230329-16-80inab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518305/original/file-20230329-16-80inab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518305/original/file-20230329-16-80inab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ajay Banga is a former Mastercard CEO, past chair of the International Chamber of Commerce and an American. The U.S. is the largest World Bank shareholder, and the institution’s president has historically been American.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/candidate-to-head-the-world-bank-ajay-banga-speaks-during-news-photo/1247898595">Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>There is no shortage of advice for what Banga and the World Bank need to do.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-does-g20-do">G-20</a> recently <a href="https://www.dt.mef.gov.it/en/attivita_istituzionali/rapporti_finanziari_internazionali/banche_sviluppo/revisione_indipendente/">issued a report</a> urging the World Bank and the other multilateral development banks to loosen their lending restrictions to get more money flowing to countries in need. A commission led by economists <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publication/finance-for-climate-action-scaling-up-investment-for-climate-and-development/">Nicholas Stern and Vera Songwe</a> called for a rapid, sustained investment push that prioritizes transitioning to cleaner energy, achieving the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">U.N. sustainable development goals</a> and meeting the needs of increasingly vulnerable countries. </p>
<p>African ministers of finance will soon come out with their own “to do” list for the World Bank, and India’s minister of finance just pulled together <a href="https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/business/2368216-india-has-been-talking-about-how-multilateral-institutions-need-reform-sitharaman">an expert group</a> to consider World Bank reform.</p>
<p>Banga will walk into the job with these and many other to-do lists. Yet he will inherit a corporate culture that makes the World Bank Group <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099845101112322078/pdf/SECBOS0f51975e0e809b7605d7b690ebd20.pdf">too inwardly focused</a> and <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-treasury-secretary-janet-l-yellen-addresses-evolution-development-finance-csis">too slow to respond</a>.</p>
<p>I have <a href="https://fletcher.tufts.edu/people/staff/rachel-kyte">worked for the World Bank Group</a> and with it from the outside. I see four key roles – four “C’s” – that Banga will need to master from the outset. From his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/23/biden-world-bank-nomination/">track record</a> and his reputation for deep thoughtfulness, I am confident that he can.</p>
<h2>1) Act as a CEO and get the entire World Bank Group house in order.</h2>
<p>The World Bank Group <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/who-we-are">is a conglomerate</a> with four balance sheets, three cultures and four executive boards, plus a dispute resolution arm.</p>
<p>Lending to low- and middle-income countries is just part of its role. The World Bank Group also <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/who-we-are/ibrd">provides technical assistance</a> across all areas of economic development and invests in and provides <a href="https://www.miga.org/">risk insurance</a> to <a href="https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/corp_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/about+ifc_new">encourage companies to invest</a> in projects and places they might otherwise consider too risky. Its ability to mobilize private-sector finance and stretch every dollar is crucial for meeting the world’s development and climate adaptation and mitigation needs.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gKpTL8KVy1Q?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">How the World Bank operates.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Banga will need to set clear goals for each part of the World Bank Group and get them working more effectively to help the world achieve its goals.</p>
<h2>2) Assume the mantle of collaborator in chief to take on the debt and climate crises.</h2>
<p>Many of the World Bank Group’s <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/annual-report/our-work">client countries</a> are facing both mounting debt and rising costs from climate change. </p>
<p>The high <a href="https://developmentfinance.un.org/fsdr2022">cost of borrowing</a> can hamper developing countries’ ability to invest in needed infrastructure to grow and protect their economies, and they fear being locked out of global trade as the United States’ green subsidies in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-new-incentives-for-clean-energy-arent-enough-the-inflation-reduction-act-was-just-the-first-step-now-the-hard-work-begins-188693">Inflation Reduction Act</a> and Europe’s border carbon tax may make it <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-us-eu-trade-tensions-rise-conflicting-carbon-tariffs-could-undermine-climate-efforts-198072">more difficult for them to compete</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://gisbarbados.gov.bb/download/the-2022-barbados-agenda/">solutions</a> to cascading problems like these cannot be managed by one institution. However, the current multilateral development bank system – the World Bank Group and the <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/publication/regional-development-banks-abcs-ifis-brief">regional development banks</a> – is disjointed at best <a href="https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/156240/adbi-wp385.pdf">and competitive</a> at worst.</p>
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<p>In the past, the leaders of the development banks, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization have cooperated, more or less, depending on crises and personalities, and can move fast when they need to.</p>
<p>During the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, for example, the then-heads of the World Bank and the WTO hurried to <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/reser_e/ersd200916_e.pdf">develop trade finance facilities</a> to support banks in developing countries as capital fled to the U.S. and Europe. It took intense diplomacy to push wealthy countries and institutions to get money out the door <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/financial-trade/update-2-global-trade-finance-gap-widens-as-recession-bites-idUSLI4771620090318">to shore up businesses and trade</a>. Success was measured not in months but in days.</p>
<p>The new president of the World Bank will need to support more radical collaboration among development financial institutions, including pooling capital and talent, to help respond quickly to countries’ needs.</p>
<p>It won’t be easy. Institutional rivalries run deep. But with <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/us-expects-bidens-nominee-ajay-banga-be-elected-world-bank-chief-2023-03-29">budgets tight</a>, there is growing clarity that there is no choice – <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-putins-war-and-small-islands-are-accelerating-the-global-shift-to-clean-energy-and-what-to-watch-for-in-2023-196925">the capital that is already in the system</a> is the closest at hand and can be deployed to better effect if the institutions are willing to adapt.</p>
<h2>3) Be a convener.</h2>
<p>Overhauling how international finance works will require everyone to be on board – development banks, central banks, regulators, investment banks, pension funds, insurance companies and private equity.</p>
<p>Banga and <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/About">International Monetary Fund</a> Managing Director <a href="https://commission.europa.eu/persons/kristalina-georgieva_en">Kristalina Georgieva</a> can settle institutional differences and present a coordinated face to private investors and the <a href="https://clubdeparis.org/en/communications/page/permanent-members">major lending countries</a>, including China – which has emerged as <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/china-is-owed-37-of-poor-countries-debt-payments-in-2022-world-bank-102463">the biggest holder</a> of developing country debt – to speed up support to struggling countries.</p>
<p>On other issues, such as <a href="https://www.iucn.org/our-work/nature-based-solutions">nature-based solutions to climate change</a>, building resilience and economic inclusion, the World Bank Group can bring its significant resources and skills, including data analysis, to global conversations that it has been painfully absent from for the past four years.</p>
<h2>4) Be a champion for the most vulnerable.</h2>
<p>The world’s most vulnerable people are the World Bank Group’s ultimate beneficiaries. For those living on the front line of biodiversity loss and climate impacts, such as extreme heat, drought and flooding, the current international financial system is proving inadequate.</p>
<p>The World Bank Group’s management incentives are still too oriented to lending approved by the board, not the outcomes of that lending, advice and assistance.</p>
<p>Throughout its history, World Bank leaders have been able to make <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/reser_e/ersd200916_e.pdf">rapid changes</a> to better help vulnerable countries when they stay close to the needs of their ultimate beneficiaries and the goals that the world has set.</p>
<p>The next president faces turbulent times. Banga’s careful listening on his campaign tour signals that he <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/7f1046cc-10fe-4a29-a92b-f0955761477b">understands the complexity</a>. It’s an extraordinary moment in the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/world-bank-groups-role-global-development">history of the institution</a>, with sky-high expectations of what one leader needs to do.</p>
<p><em>This article, originally published March 30, 2023, has been updated with Banga’s approval to become World Bank president.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202900/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Kyte served in several roles at the World Bank Group from 2000 to 2015.</span></em></p>It’s a crucial time for the World Bank, with growing calls for reform and sky-high expectations of what one leader needs to do. A former World Bank official explains the challenges ahead.Rachel Kyte, Dean of the Fletcher School, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2022082023-03-28T16:38:11Z2023-03-28T16:38:11ZFour global problems that will be aggravated by the UK’s recent cuts to international aid<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517273/original/file-20230323-22-bajdav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3837%2C2590&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Flags fly outside the UN building in New York.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/flags-all-nations-outside-un-new-545605258">Andrew F. Kazmierski/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>UK economic forecasts have improved markedly since the September 2022 mini-budget. The economic recession may now be more shallow and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/mar/21/uk-government-borrowing-energy-bills-interest-payments#:%7E:text=Borrowing%20in%20the%20financial%20year,expected%20decline%20in%20energy%20prices.%E2%80%9D">public borrowing lower than previously expected</a>. </p>
<p>However, faced with <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9428/#:%7E:text=The%20cost%20of%20living%20increased,goods%20and%20services%20for%20households.%22%22">persistently high</a> inflation and continued uncertainty caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, financial cuts remained the order of the day in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2023/spring-budget-2023-html">the UK government’s spring 2023 budget</a> announcement.</p>
<p>While Chancellor Jeremy Hunt introduced a £5 billion increase to military spending over the next two years, the international aid budget was <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/uk-aid-faces-third-major-cut-in-3-years-with-1-7b-to-be-cut-104513">cut for the third time in three years</a>. This is part of an increasingly concerning international trend.</p>
<p>UK aid has been <a href="https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/uk-aid-spending-statistics-and-recent-developments/">deceasing since 2019</a>. And the country is not alone in cutting its aid commitments. Sweden – one of the world’s leading donors in this area – is also set to <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/un-eu-push-back-as-sweden-drops-1-percent-aid-target-104228">abolish its target</a> of spending 1% of GDP on aid. Across several European countries, recent cuts have largely been driven by the <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/what-would-be-economic-consequences-military-stalemate-ukraine">Ukraine war</a>, as well as national pressures caused by the COVID pandemic. </p>
<p>And yet aid is sorely needed if the world is to meet the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda?_gl=1*11b9zzk*_ga*Mzc5OTM3Mzc4LjE2NzMwMTAzNTU.*_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z*MTY3ODY5NjEwMy41LjAuMTY3ODY5NjEwMy4wLjAuMA..">2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development</a>, a plan to end world poverty agreed by UN members in 2015. The “<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/02/1133637">great finance divide</a>” – which sees some countries struggle to access resources and affordable finance for economic investment – continues to grow, according to the UN, leaving developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America more susceptible to shocks.</p>
<p>The UK and Europe’s support for Ukraine is admirable and much-needed. But when countries are faced with important domestic political and financial challenges, governments tend to look inwards – often in an attempt to rally their electorate. </p>
<p>Cuts to aid budgets are one example of this. For the UK in particular, neglecting multilateral solutions to important global challenges could actually exacerbate what are thought of as “domestic issues”. Our research highlights four such issues that could be affected by the UK’s budget cuts.</p>
<h2>1. Increasing poverty could affect global stability</h2>
<p>While the exact direction of the relationship remains up for <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/359271468739530199/pdf/multi-page.pdf">debate</a>, poverty is an important <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022002702046001001">cause and effect of war</a>. We know that up to <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/fragilityconflictviolence/publication/world-bank-group-strategy-for-fragility-conflict-and-violence-2020-2025">two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor</a> (defined as people earning less than $1.90 a day) will be concentrated in fragile and conflict-affected countries by 2030.</p>
<p>Research shows that aid promotes <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/aid-impact-and-effectiveness-0">economic growth</a>. So, reducing <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/fragilityconflictviolence/publication/world-bank-group-strategy-for-fragility-conflict-and-violence-2020-2025">international aid</a> will only exacerbate these recent negative trends. According to the <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/governments-us-them-attitude-aid-29454405">chief executive of Oxfam GB</a>, aid is an investment in a more stable world – something that is in all of our interests.</p>
<h2>2. Extremism could spread as western influence falls</h2>
<p><a href="https://africacenter.org/in-focus/countering-violent-extremism-in-africa/">Violent extremism</a> is on the rise in Africa. It reduces international investment and undermines the rights of minority groups, women and girls. This goes against important UN <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">sustainable development goals</a> aimed at building peace and prosperity for the planet and its people.</p>
<p>Reducing international aid will create opportunities for new political actors to emerge and influence the direction of countries with weak government institutions. Cutting back western influence in international architecture (especially while these countries support a conflict in their own continent) may also be resented by <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/03/08/russia-ukraine-war-west-global-south-diplomacy-un-putin-g20/">countries in other parts of the world</a> that would like more support.</p>
<h2>3. Democracy could be threatened in some countries</h2>
<p>When aid is provided in the right way, it can <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/foreign-aid-can-help-stem-decline-democracy-if-used-right-way">give a boost</a> to democratic outcomes. Again, if western, democratic and liberal states don’t support countries struggling to tackle poverty and extremism, other actors could step in. </p>
<p>Russia’s increasing involvement in the Central African Republic and Burkina Faso are recent examples. Equally, China’s <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative">Belt and Road Initiative</a> (through which it lends money to other countries to build infrastructure) has significantly broadened its economic and political influence in many parts of the world. But some experts fear that China is laying a <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative">debt trap for borrowing governments</a>, whereby <a href="https://docs.aiddata.org/ad4/pdfs/How_China_Lends__A_Rare_Look_into_100_Debt_Contracts_with_Foreign_Governments.pdf">the contracts</a> agreed allow it to seize strategic assets when debtor countries run into financial problems.</p>
<p>The growing influence of both states may explain global trends towards <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2019.1582029">democratic backsliding</a> because research shows <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2020.1799194">democratic stability</a> is often undermined in waves. In recent UN votes, Russia and China’s <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/do-countries-use-foreign-aid-buy-geopolitical-influence-0">growing influence</a> via such aid has been seen to bear fruit. For example, in October 2022 Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan –- both temporary members of the UN Human Rights council –- <a href="https://eurasianet.org/china-gets-central-asias-votes-russia-gets-its-silence">voted against a decision</a> to discuss human rights concerns in China’s Muslim-majority Xinjiang region.</p>
<h2>4. More countries could struggle to welcome refugees</h2>
<p>People flee their homes for many reasons but mostly due to conflict, violent extremism and poverty. Most refugees do not travel to western countries such as the UK, although the number of people arriving in small boats across the English Channel has <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01403/">risen substantially</a> recently.</p>
<p>But there are <a href="https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/what/humanitarian-aid/forced-displacement-refugees-asylum-seekers-and-internally-displaced-persons-idps_en#:%7E:text=08%2F07%2F2022-,Facts%20%26%20figures,53.2%20million%20internally%20displaced">more “internationally displaced people” than refugees</a>. That is, most people fleeing war remain in their country, while refugees tend to <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/">remain in neighbouring states</a>. </p>
<p>Turkey receives the highest numbers of refugees due to its proximity to the ongoing war in Syria, and <a href="https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">Poland</a> welcomed the highest number of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.</p>
<p>This, combined with the fact that countries most <a href="https://acleddata.com/conflict-watchlist-2023/">likely to experience conflict</a> are geographically distant from the UK, indicates that numbers seeking asylum in the UK will remain relatively low. But reducing aid will impose further pressures on poor countries that are already struggling to accommodate refugee flows, as well as increasing push factors for migration from fragile regions.</p>
<h2>International aid should be one of many solutions</h2>
<p>Failure to tackle global problems like poverty, extremism, and democratic backsliding could further destabilise fragile regions. This will have <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/how-many-lives-will-uks-aid-budget-reduction-really-cost">human costs</a> including increased numbers of desperate people attempting to cross the channel. </p>
<p>Aid is an investment in a more stable world. <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/b8e8d712-8e19-4935-b4cf-d6c4e30f0dd3">Deals with France</a> or the risk of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-61782866">deportation to Rwanda</a> will have limited impact on reducing the number of people arriving on small boats if the root causes of their migration are not tackled.</p>
<p>In our globalised world, looking inwards can only exacerbate these problems. It is crucial that states adopt multilateral solutions – including funding international aid programmes – to tackle global problems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202208/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patricia Justino receives funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kit Rickard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The UK is among countries cutting international aid payments, which could affect the world in four key areas: poverty, extremism, democracy and refugees.Patricia Justino, Professor and Senior Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations UniversityKit Rickard, Research Associate at UNU-WIDER, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2017562023-03-22T20:06:56Z2023-03-22T20:06:56ZHow the bottled water industry is masking the global water crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516888/original/file-20230322-28-8wbvdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=170%2C78%2C4191%2C2635&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bottled water corporations exploit surface water and aquifers, buy water at a very low cost and sell it for 150 to 1,000 times more than the same unit of municipal tap water.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bottled water is one of the world’s most popular beverages, and <a href="https://www.statista.com/study/55493/non-alcoholic-drinks-report/">its industry</a> is making the most of it. Since the millennium, the world has advanced significantly towards the goal of safe water for all. <a href="https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-drinking-water">In 2020, 74 per cent of humanity had access to safe water</a>. This is 10 per cent more than two decades ago. But that still leaves <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1067123">two billion people without access to safe drinking water</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, bottled water corporations exploit surface water and aquifers — typically at very low cost — and sell it for <a href="https://bioone.org/journals/ambio-a-journal-of-the-human-environment/volume-30/issue-2/0044-7447-30.2.118/Bottled-Water-Understanding-a-Social-Phenomenon/10.1579/0044-7447-30.2.118.short">150 to 1,000 times more</a> than the same unit of municipal tap water. The price is often justified by offering the product as an absolute safe alternative to tap water. But bottled water is not immune to all contamination, considering that it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1220">rarely faces the rigorous public health and environmental regulations that public utility tap water does</a>. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://inweh.unu.edu/global-bottled-water-industry-a-review-of-impacts-and-trends/">recently published study</a>, which studied 109 countries, it was concluded that the highly profitable and fast-growing bottled water industry is masking the failure of public systems to supply reliable drinking water for all.</p>
<p>The industry can undermine progress of safe-water projects, mostly in low- and middle-income countries, by distracting development efforts and redirecting attention to a less reliable, less affordable option.</p>
<h2>Bottled water industry can disrupt SDGs</h2>
<p>The fast-growing bottled water industry also impacts the UN’s <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a> (SDG) in many ways. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A pile of plastic bottle waste." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516889/original/file-20230322-20-t3cg69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516889/original/file-20230322-20-t3cg69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516889/original/file-20230322-20-t3cg69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516889/original/file-20230322-20-t3cg69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516889/original/file-20230322-20-t3cg69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516889/original/file-20230322-20-t3cg69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516889/original/file-20230322-20-t3cg69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The rising sales of global bottled water is contributing to plastic pollution on land and in the oceans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The latest <a href="https://inweh.unu.edu/global-bottled-water-industry-a-review-of-impacts-and-trends/">UN University report</a> revealed that the annual sales of the global bottled water market is expected to double to US$500 billion worldwide this decade. This can increase stress in water-depleted areas while contributing to plastic pollution on land and in the oceans.</p>
<p>Growing <a href="https://www.statista.com/study/55496/food-report-2021/">faster than any other in the food category worldwide</a>, the bottled water market is biggest in the Global South, with the Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin American and Caribbean regions accounting for 60 per cent of all sales.</p>
<p>But no region is on track to achieve universal access to safe water services, which is one of the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal6">SDG 2030 targets</a>. In fact, the industry’s greatest impact seems to be its potential to stunt the progress of nations’ goals to provide its residents with equitable access to affordable drinking water.</p>
<h2>Impact on vulnerable nations</h2>
<p>In the Global North, bottled water is often perceived to be healthier and tastier than tap water. It is, therefore, more a luxury good than a necessity. Meanwhile, in the Global South, it is the lack or absence of reliable public water supply and water management infrastructure that drives bottled water markets. </p>
<p>Therefore, in many low- and middle-income countries, particularly in the Asia Pacific, rising consumption of bottled water can be seen as a proxy indicator of decades of governments’ failure to deliver on commitments to safe public water systems.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of people fill water in their drums from a truck carrying municipal water." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516890/original/file-20230322-20-voxzso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516890/original/file-20230322-20-voxzso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516890/original/file-20230322-20-voxzso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516890/original/file-20230322-20-voxzso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516890/original/file-20230322-20-voxzso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516890/original/file-20230322-20-voxzso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516890/original/file-20230322-20-voxzso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The rising consumption of bottled water in some countries can be seen as a proxy indicator of decades of governments’ failure to deliver on commitments to safe public water systems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This further widens the global disparity between the billions of people who lack access to reliable water services and the others that enjoy water as a luxury.</p>
<p>In 2016, the <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/cfbfaf80-3930-5ffd-a5bf-6ded12a1340e">annual financing required to achieve a safe drinking water supply throughout the world was estimated to cost US$114 billion</a>, which amounts to less than half of today’s roughly US$270 billion global annual bottled water sales. </p>
<h2>Regulating the bottled-water industry</h2>
<p>Last year, the World Health Organization <a href="https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-drinking-water">estimated that the current rate of progress needs to quadruple to meet the SDGs 2030 target</a>. But this is a colossal challenge considering the competing financial priorities and the prevailing business-as-usual attitude in the water sector.</p>
<p>As the bottled water market grows, it is more important than ever to strengthen legislation that regulates the industry and its water quality standards. Such legislation can impact bottled water quality control, groundwater exploitation, land use, plastic waste management, carbon emissions, finance and transparency obligations, to mention a few.</p>
<p>Our report argues that, with global progress toward this target so far off-track, expansion of the bottled water market essentially works against making headway, or at least slows it down, adversely affecting investments and long-term public water infrastructure.</p>
<p>Some high-level initiatives, like an alliance of <a href="https://sdg.iisd.org/news/ceos-explore-solutions-to-bridge-annual-usd-4-3-trillion-sdg-financing-gap/">Global Investors for Sustainable Development</a>, aim to scale up finance for the SDGs, including water-related ones. </p>
<p>Such initiatives offer the bottled water sector an opportunity to become an active player in this process and help accelerate progress toward reliable water supply, particularly in the Global South.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201756/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zeineb Bouhlel works for United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH). UNU-INWEH is supported by the Government of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vladimir Smakhtin received funding from Global Affairs Canada </span></em></p>The bottled water industry can undermine progress of projects aimed at creating safe-water systems for all, by redirecting attention to a less reliable, less affordable option.Zeineb Bouhlel, Research Associate, Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), United Nations UniversityVladimir Smakhtin, Former Director of the Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), United Nations UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2003502023-03-14T20:58:26Z2023-03-14T20:58:26ZLeveraging digital platforms for public good: Stories of positive impact from India<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514293/original/file-20230308-24-vnq55t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C3244%2C2448&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Waste management workers stand outside a waste processing plant in Bengaluru, India. By formalizing the waste collection process, the 'I Got Garbage' digital platform transformed waste workers into micro-entrepreneurs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Suchit Ahuja)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Digital platforms such as Uber, Airbnb, WeChat and TaskRabbit have changed the world by creating <a href="https://issues.org/rise-platform-economy-big-data-work/">new economic opportunities</a> through <a href="https://hbr.org/2018/03/thriving-in-the-gig-economy">gig work culture</a> and enabling a <a href="https://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/news/sharing-economy-market-2023-understanding-the-impact-of-consumer-demand-on-business-growth-till-2028">sharing economy</a>. However, concerns remain about how these platforms may <a href="https://www.immpressmagazine.com/the-gig-economy-exploitation-of-innovation/">exploit gig workers</a> and customers if driven purely by profit. </p>
<p>While these platforms are great at <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/01/why-some-platforms-thrive-and-others-dont">creating value by bringing buyers, sellers and consumers together</a>, their benefits often don’t transcend to their ecosystem. <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/">They have been criticized</a> for their <a href="https://www.un.org/en/un75/impact-digital-technologies">poor social and environmental impacts</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105528">exclusionary practices</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00081256221094307">digital colonialism</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517221135176">surveillance capabilities</a>.</p>
<p>To leverage the power of platforms for social good, it’s important to design <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-platforms-potential-impact-social-sector-abhishek-modi/">socially-oriented platforms</a> within <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-ecosystem-of-shared-value">ecosystems of shared value</a> that target the UN’s sustainable development goals.</p>
<p>To focus on sustainable development goals, platforms need to change from being exclusively focused on profits and value appropriation, to perceiving themselves as <a href="https://digitalpublicgoods.net/">public goods</a> that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12378">innovate responsibly</a> by co-creating and sharing economic, social and environmental value. </p>
<p>While this is easier said than done, some <a href="https://platformcommons.org/platform/">organizations have begun the process</a>.</p>
<h2>A new non-profit</h2>
<p>Commercial platforms are expected to earn an <a href="https://www.insighteurs.com/platform-economy-digital-business-models/#how-much-of-the-economy-is-a-platform">estimated $60 trillion by 2025</a>. Meanwhile, the <a href="https://platformcommons.org/">Platform Commons Foundation</a> — an Indian non-profit that builds inclusive platforms to address global <a href="https://www.grandchallenges.org/">grand challenges</a> — is focused on creating social value, while economic value is secondary.</p>
<p>The Platform Commons Foundation has launched a number of platforms focused on sustainable development goals such as poverty alleviation, providing quality education and decent work, improving economic growth and reducing inequalities.</p>
<p>One of the Platform Commons Foundation’s many platforms — I Got Garbage — transformed the lives of underpaid and marginalized waste management workers in <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2020/12/what-is-the-informal-economy-basics">India’s informal sector</a>, who faced frequent harassment and exploitation, by helping them earn a steady income and a dignified livelihood.</p>
<p>Another platform — Commons.farm — is an agritech platform that provides equitable and accessible services to <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/necessity-of-holistic-development-of-small-marginal-farmer-communities-in-india/">smallholder farmers that face challenges</a> across the agricultural supply chain. </p>
<p>Smallholder farmers make up <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/agri-tech-innovation-can-improve-value-capture-and-transform-ecosystem-for-india-s-small-farmers/">80 to 90 per cent of India’s agriculture</a>. Yet, they own less than five acres of land and usually grow only two crops a year. They are often unable to find buyers for their produce, forcing them to only sell through intermediary controlled markets.</p>
<p>Let’s take a closer look at these platforms.</p>
<h2>Revolutionizing waste management</h2>
<p>I Got Garbage turned the informal waste collection process into a formal process. The platform consists of an ecosystem of <a href="https://www.swmrt.com/">thousands of citizens</a>, <a href="https://bengaluru.citizenmatters.in/4561-swmrt-solid-waste-management-guidelines-4561">government and municipal officers</a>, <a href="https://hasirudala.in/">non-governmental organizations</a>, waste worker communities and other institutions. </p>
<p>By formalizing the waste collection process, I Got Garbage transformed waste workers into micro-entrepreneurs who can earn sustainable wages and protect themselves from exploitation. </p>
<p>I Got Garbage did this through several technology interventions. Some of these interventions include the <a href="https://www.northeastern.edu/sei/2018/12/i-got-garbage/">I Got Garbage app</a> that runs on low-cost cellphones, SMS and WhatsApp-based communications in various Indian languages, waste and recycling management planning software, customer service training, providing uniforms and identity badges, geotagging locations for waste pick-up and tracking wages. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Women wearing masks and fluorescent worker vests sort through trash on a conveyor belt" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514082/original/file-20230307-18-qhiyis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514082/original/file-20230307-18-qhiyis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514082/original/file-20230307-18-qhiyis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514082/original/file-20230307-18-qhiyis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514082/original/file-20230307-18-qhiyis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514082/original/file-20230307-18-qhiyis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514082/original/file-20230307-18-qhiyis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Waste workers separate paper and plastic on a conveyor belt in a recycling facility in New Delhi, India in September 2019. The ‘I Got Garbage’ digital platform turned the informal waste collection process into a formal process.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I Got Garbage worked with the community of waste workers to understand their problems and gain their trust. It also signed households up for its services via Facebook and SMS/WhatsApp campaigns.</p>
<p>I Got Garbage made a significant impact as it reduced landfill waste by 40 per cent and processed more than 10,000 tons of recycling materials daily in one city. It employed more than 15,000 waste workers and expanded to several cities in less than five years since its inception.</p>
<p>I Got Garbage has led to a revolution of waste management and recycling in India which is set to be <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thebetterindia_cleanestcity-biomethanation-zerowaste-activity-7034484687683084288-9WIP">replicated in 72 countries</a> in Asia and Africa.</p>
<h2>Empowering farmers and preventing suicide</h2>
<p>The Indian agricultural sector suffers the same fragmentation and informal process issues as the waste management sector. </p>
<p>Productivity issues, corruption and supply chain issues within India’s agricultural sector are so stark they have caused a suicide epidemic among debt-ridden smallholder farmers. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/17/opinions/india-farmer-suicide-agriculture-reform-kaur/index.html">Over 10,000 farmers died in 2020 alone</a> according to the government. </p>
<p>The situation was dire and needed intervention at the grassroots level.</p>
<p>The Platform Commons Foundation launched Commons.farm in 2019 to assist farmers and regional governments in and around Bengaluru. The idea was the same as I Got Garbage, except for the revenue model — empowering farmers by connecting them with each other to form co-operatives, resolving agriculture supply chain issues, enabling communication among farmers, governments and markets, and improving social and environmental impact.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A barefooted Indian man walks through a field of crops carrying a bunch of turnips" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514320/original/file-20230308-1015-2bwkbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514320/original/file-20230308-1015-2bwkbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514320/original/file-20230308-1015-2bwkbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514320/original/file-20230308-1015-2bwkbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514320/original/file-20230308-1015-2bwkbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514320/original/file-20230308-1015-2bwkbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514320/original/file-20230308-1015-2bwkbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Indian farmer carries turnips after harvesting them from a field in Kanachak village, on the outskirts of Jammu, India in February 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Channi Anand)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This would empower smallholder farmers with digital tools to reduce waste, cut out corruption and communicate directly with suppliers and customers.</p>
<p>The platform obtains its primary revenues <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/14/global-farm-subsidies-damage-people-planet-un-climate-crisis-nature-inequality">from government subsidy programs</a> instead of charging farmers for services. Local and state governments that use Commons.farm receive guaranteed impact outcomes from the money they spend on the platform, which is a fraction of the overall subsidy bill they would otherwise incur.</p>
<h2>Sustainable use of digital platforms</h2>
<p>Platforms like I Got Garbage and Commons.farm that also focus on sustainable development goals are gaining attention. The <a href="https://www.francis-project.eu/">FRANCIS project</a>, for example, hosts open innovation challenges in Europe that involve citizens, scientists and academics. Its aim is to develop affordable innovations that address real-world challenges.</p>
<p>Citizens can join the challenges via the online platform or in face-to-face events. Scientists run workshops during the challenges that offer method training. This project is currently working on a solar disinfection project targeting low- to middle-income households in rural areas, people in refugee camps and micro-entrepreneurs.</p>
<p>The Indian government has also created its own set of public platforms that it calls the <a href="https://indiastack.org/">India Stack</a>. It has built a <a href="https://uidai.gov.in/en/">biometric digital identity platform</a>, a real-time <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/01/business/india-digital-payments-upi.html">mobile payment platform</a>, a <a href="https://www.exemplars.health/emerging-topics/epidemic-preparedness-and-response/digital-health-tools/cowin-in-india">COVID-19 vaccine records platform</a> and an open and inclusive <a href="https://ondc.org/">e-commerce platform</a>.</p>
<p>Digital platforms can be used as private pipelines that enable monopolies or they can be used as open, inclusive mechanisms <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2022.2105999">leveraged for the public good</a>. </p>
<p>By learning from examples that have leapfrogged common platform pitfalls to focus on the public good, we can move towards an equitable and empowering version of digital transformation. We have the opportunity to emulate these successful examples in our own contexts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200350/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suchit Ahuja receives funding from FRQSC and SSHRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yolande E. Chan receives funding from SSHRC.</span></em></p>To focus on sustainable development goals, platforms need to change from being exclusively focused on profits and value appropriation to perceiving themselves as public goods.Suchit Ahuja, Assistant Professor, Business Technology Management, Concordia UniversityYolande E. Chan, Dean, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.