By MediaGlobal

25 July 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: As fertilizers become more affordable for African farmers, the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) assures the rates of use should not contribute to the growing impact of climate change on the continent. Morgane Danielou, media contact for IFA, told MediaGlobal, “The industry encourages training farmers on using fertilizers appropriately to avoid negative environmental impact and to optimize profitability. Excess fertilizer application can lead to nutrient runoff to water and air.” Danielou listed eutrophication, or algae bloom, as one of the impact fertilizer excess can lead to, along with climate change due to carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions. “However,” Danielou continued, “because of the very low fertilizer application rates used in sub-Saharan Africa, none of these phenomena are associated with the use of fertilizers in the region.” Indeed, Danielou added, “maintaining the current nutrient mining of African soils with no replenishment leads to soil fertility erosion and food insecurity.” As long as farmers follow Fertilizer Best Management Practices, according to Danielou, and use the right nutrient source, rate, time, and place—the 4R Nutrient Stewardship—greater use of fertilizer in Africa should not contribute to the climate changes already being seen in many African countries. Alison Walkley

Online boutique helps alleviate poverty in rural Africa

24 July 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Since 2003, Global Girlfriend, a greater good store, has been offering economic opportunities to women around the world. The online store sells fair-trade, eco-friendly boutique items, including clothing, accessories, and bath products, made by women from around the world. A portion (5 to 30 percent) of each sale serves as a royalty, which Global Girlfriend donates to a variety of charities. The company is currently working with 40 different women’s non-governmental organizations and is committed to improving the lives of women, in Africa specifically. One such organization with which Global Girlfriend works is the Campaign for Female Education (Camfed), which strives to combat poverty and HIV/AIDS in rural Africa through educating and providing economic opportunities for women. Stacey Edgar, Founder and President of Global Girlfriend, told MediaGlobal, “Camfed stood out because their mission is in line with what we do: empowering women and eradicating poverty and hunger through education and economic security.” So far, Global Girlfriend has experienced a positive partnership with Camfed and has received reports highlighting the scholarship and training for women in Africa made possible by donations from the boutique store. “For women to get ahead, they need to be educated and need to know all the opportunities that exist for them,” Edgar explained. Donations generated by Global Girlfriend are also channeled directly to the Camfed micro-grant and micro-credit program, which enables young women in rural Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, and Tanzania to launch small business initiatives that will in turn allow them to achieve economic security and self-sufficiency. Ultimately, Global Girlfriend ensures that the money donated is put to proper use to improve the livelihood of women in rural Africa and alleviate extreme poverty. “We wanted to be very specific that all the money is used on the ground and not just directed towards administrative costs,” Edgar clarified. Shefali Lall

Researchers in Least Developed Countries to get free access to technological journals

24 July 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The World Intellectual Property Organization launched the Access to Research for Development and Innovation initiative on Friday. Through partnerships with prominent publishers, the initiative will make a variety of scientific and technological online journals—which normally cost institutions hundreds or thousands of dollars—available in the least developed countries at no cost. “ARDI will offer a wide range of technical journals, which will contribute to the stimulation of creativity and innovation [in developing countries],” Andrew Czajkowski, Head of the Innovation and Technology Support Unit of the Global Information Service, told MediaGlobal. Research and innovation in developing countries has largely been stymied by poor infrastructure, lack of resources, and a shortage of qualified people. But improvement in the capabilities of universities, as well as the research institutions that provide jobs, is opening up career paths for many of the students interested in going into science and technology. Where sufficient investment has been made in these fields to support significant research, the developments have often been turned inwards, to respond to the needs of the least developed countries. The initiative is based on the idea that helping institutions to become contributors to, rather than beneficiaries of, the international science and technology communities will boost the development and self-sufficiency of those nations. Molly Slothower

International Organization for Migration helps migrants stranded in Morocco

24 July 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has provided return and reintegration assistance to over 500 migrants from Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, and other areas of unrest in Africa who have fled to Morocco in recent years. Oihid Elayar, project assistant for IOM, told MediaGlobal, “Morocco is a major transit and destination country by default of stranded migrants, mostly coming from sub-Saharan Africa, during their migratory route to reach Europe.” Elayar estimated that anywhere between “10,000 and 20,000 illegal stranded migrants” are currently in Moroccan territory. “Many of these migrants tend to spend between two to three years in Morocco trying to make a living in the informal sector and to save money in order to continue their migratory route towards Europe,” he said. Before IOM stepped in to set up income-generating projects for the migrants, they were surviving on meager resources garnered through menial jobs, smuggling activities, and begging in Morocco’s cities. Female migrants have faced some of the hardest conditions, carrying children they bore during the migratory process with them. IOM’s Regional Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration program, according to Elayar, “is targeting 2,000 stranded migrants in Morocco and Libya,” with the objective of “managing illegal migratory flows from Africa to Europe in full respect of migrants’ well-being.” Additionally, IOM is enhancing human rights protections for migrants in origin countries and Morocco, among other initiatives. Over the past approximately four years, IOM has aided in the return of 1,918 migrants to their countries of origin and more than 1,000 others are pending return. Alison Walkley

Former president of Ghana joins team of WFP Global Ambassadors against Hunger

23 July 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: This week, the former president of Ghana, John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor, was named a United Nations World Food Program (WFP) Global Ambassador against Hunger, a position that will allow him to raise his voice in the fight to eradicate world hunger. The WFP group of Global Ambassadors against Hunger is comprised of distinguished individuals, including celebrities and politicians, who strive to communicate on behalf of the world’s hungry. The team seeks to prioritize the need for improved access to nutritious food, especially among schoolchildren, who often suffer from extreme malnutrition. The WFP has selected President Kufuor because of their strong belief in his ability to raise international awareness on the needs of the 66 million hungry schoolchildren around the world and effect change in Africa. “He has personal experience of having launched a program which aims to prioritize free school meals for four to 14 year olds throughout Ghana. What began as a pilot (ten schools) four years ago, when he enlisted the help of WFP and donations from the Dutch government, has blossomed to 900 schools this year—owing to high demand,” Caroline Hurford, spokesperson for WFP, told MediaGlobal. President Kufuor will work to educate leaders worldwide on various methods of combating global hunger such as increased investment in long-term agricultural development. He will also advocate the importance of improved nutrition, especially among the young, and the need for healthy meals to be offered at school. As Hurford explained, “A free nutritious meal in school acts as an incentive to parents to send their children—especially girls—to school, where they can learn and grow, and hence escape poverty and ignorance.” Shefali Lall

H1N1 virus will hit developing nations the hardest

21 July 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Though influenza A, or the H1N1 virus, has sideswiped North America and Europe, causing only a handful of fatalities, the flu is likely to have far more devastating effects on developing nations with curtailed public health budgets, according to the Senior United Nations System Coordinator for Avian Influenza, David Nabarro. “We don’t need to start talking about what will happen if. We have to say, what will happen when, with regard to this present virus going into [developing] countries,” Nabarro told journalists at the UN headquarters. “That is why we have to work now with the poor countries that are beginning to say to us, we do want more help to get ready for what is going to happen.” The H1N1 virus has already hit at least 12 African and seven developing South Asian countries, according to the World Health Organization. As of 6 July, 429 deaths and 94,512 confirmed cases of the pandemic were reported on a global level. Nabarro explained that the flu may have affected more people in developing nations, but it is difficult to navigate the flu’s progression and its infection rate. “It is extremely difficult to say with accuracy which countries have gotten this virus and which ones haven’t, for the reason that a lot of people who have it haven’t had that picked up in tests,” Nabarro told MediaGlobal. “The important piece of information to communicate is that this virus is going to get into every country. It will take time, but it will happen and the countries that have the least developed health care systems are likely to be hit hardest by it. Providing aid for the world’s 49 Least Developed Countries, then, is key, Nabarro continued, noting that these countries do not want to derail present prevention programs for malaria, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases. “We are responding to this as fully as we can with every part of our system at full-speed ahead,” Nabarro said. Amy Lieberman

World leaders urged to stick to the details of the climate change report

20 July 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: While agreeing to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, the leaders of the world’s largest economies have still “clearly ignored” the science of climate change, Dr. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said today, discussing the outcome of this month’s G-8 Summit. “If the G-8 leaders agreed on this 2-degree increase as being the limit that could be accepted, then…they should have also accepted the attendant requirement of global emissions peaking by 2015,” Pachauri explained to journalists at the United Nations. This would entail “most categorically” committing to deep cuts in global emissions by 2020, which did not happen in L’Aquila. The latest IPCC report clearly details these necessary steps, he said. The report also outlines “a set of scenarios” by which to accomplish these reductions. Pachauri told MediaGlobal, “To mount a program of stringent mitigation, we have all the technologies, we have all the means available to us today, or these are technologies that are on the verge of commercialization.” Governments will also have to implement new policies that encourage the development of new technologies, which will be necessary in the future, but there is enough available to begin moving today, he furthered. At the end of the day, “we need to look at the scientific facts and findings that were brought out in [the IPCC] report, all of which indicate that if we, as the G-8 leaders have agreed, are to limit the temperature increase of this planet to 2 degrees Celsius…then we really have very little time.” Pachauri also said it is critical that the media “connects the science with the public,” which can help ensure leaders make the appropriate decisions in December’s pivotal Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Raquel Thompson

Lesotho working toward sustainable water in urban areas

20 July 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The Kingdom of Lesotho recently signed a US $25 million financing agreement to fund improvement efforts to the country’s water supply, dubbed the Water Sector Improvement Project. Lesotho’s Metolong Authority is leading the project with technical support provided by the World Bank. The project will concentrate on providing reliable water to the capital city of Maseru and its surrounding areas. Although 80 percent of Lesotho’s population has access to safe drinking water, rapid population and industrial growth has made the country concerned about its water security. Lesotho has determined that preserving and building upon their existing water resources is essential for their development. Sarwat Hussain, from the World Bank’s Africa Region External Affairs, told MediaGlobal, “There is an urgent need for the landlocked country to manage its water resources sustainably for the benefit of its people, the economy and the environment.” The new project will include the construction of a high dam, the formation of a pumping station and water treatment plant, and a water conveyance system. All of these endeavors will operate using consistent environmental safeguards. The establishment of this infrastructure will provide 75,000 cubic meters of additional treated water to communities in the capital region. “Once the project is completed in 2013, it will meet the domestic and industrial requirements for the greater Maseru area for at least the next 40 years, potential reaching 80 percent of the people living in the capital city and environs,” said Hussain. Carolyn Hemminger

Editor: Nosh Nalavala

Assistant Editor: Christina L. Madden

THIS WEEK IN DEVELOPMENT is distributed globally and read by leaders of both developed countries and the countries of the global South, the global media, policymakers in donor countries, non-governmental organizations and key personnel in the United Nations Secretariat, its agencies and managers in the field worldwide. If you wish to continue receiving or recommend this weekly newsletter disseminated gratis, please refer to our website: www.mediaglobal.org