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	Financing public health, a green economic recovery and the Sustainable Development Goals by WaterAid, Council of Canadians, agencies   May 2020   Katie Tobin, John Garrett and Chilufya Chileshe from WaterAid look at how addressing COVID-19's health and economic impacts while turning towards climate justice requires a complete transformation of the current financial system and global economy.   The coronavirus pandemic underscores the profound fragility and unsustainability of today's world. It exposes the chronic under-investment in human health and wellbeing and the consequences of a relentless exploitation of biodiversity and the natural environment.   Despite the pledge by 193 governments in adopting the historic Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, COVID-19 and the accelerating climate crisis threaten to undermine the progress made and to increase global poverty levels for the first time in decades. Global leadership - governmental and corporate - has been found seriously wanting.   At least half of the world's population do not have access to essential health services. Three billion people lack basic handwashing facilities, over a billion people live in dense, slum conditions and are therefore unable to practise physical distancing, and 40% of healthcare facilities globally lack hand hygiene at points of care (WHO/UNICEF JMP 2019).   The virus and resulting lockdowns threaten the livelihoods of 1.6 billion workers, and a few months ago 11,000 scientists declared clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth faces a climate emergency.   These combined social, economic and environmental crises show the need to make real progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and inspire new, collective action towards a more just, equitable and sustainable global order.   Central to this agenda is finance. Yet even before widely instituted lockdowns and the resulting economic recession, financing to achieve the SDGs was woefully insufficient.   WaterAid's research on financing universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Pakistan (SDG 6 targets 1 and 2) indicates shortfalls multiple times that of current levels of financing.   Other studies show that this is common across other SDGs, with the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network identifying a US$400 billion annual funding gap to deliver the SDGs in Low-Income Developing Countries (LIDCs).   No single country or individual can resolve these issues in isolation. National efforts by LIDCs to mobilise increased domestic resources to tackle the pandemic and invest in the SDGs must be backed by a global, coordinated and comprehensive response far exceeding the support provided to date.   Last week, the UN Secretary-General launched a framework focused on mitigating the socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic through a 'human-centred, innovative and coordinated stimulus package reaching double-digit percentage points of the world's gross domestic product'.   This is very welcome, but crucially it must be built on equitable, affordable and sustainable foundations - rather than a mountain of new debt and subsequent austerity which followed the 2008 financial crisis.   Financing this unprecedented global stimulus requires a comprehensive package of fundamental reform - long advocated by civil society and movements for economic justice - comprising debt relief, taxation, international aid, reserves and subsidies.   This structural transformation should be urgently instituted both as part of immediate response to COVID-19 and as permanent redirections and safeguards on international economic and financial systems.   Debt relief from the IMF and World Bank and G20 is a positive start, providing temporary fiscal space, including for public spending deprioritised in the face of crushing debt service commitments.   But as the Jubilee Debt Campaign, Oxfam, Christian Aid and others have advocated, widespread unconditional cancellation of public and private debt is what is really needed, overseen by an independent sovereign debt workout mechanism under the aegis of the United Nations.   Zambia's US$1.5 billion external debt servicing requirement in 2020 - now only partially alleviated - compares with budgets for health of $215 million and for water, sanitation and hygiene of $91 million (2019).   Debt cancellation is just one example of the transformation required in financial relationships between high-income countries and LIDCs to enable governments to address COVID-19, effectively target public goods and services, realise human rights (including the right to development) for all, especially the poorest and most vulnerable, and achieve the SDGs.   Global structures of taxation also require a wide-ranging overhaul. Church leaders in the UK recently highlighted how US$8 trillion sits in off-shore tax havens, with developing countries deprived of up to $400 billion every year in tax avoidance and evasion.   In similar vein, the IMF has previously revealed that almost 40% of foreign direct investment is completely artificial: it consists of financial investment passing through empty corporate shells with no real activity.   Ending these practices, and ensuring democratic oversight of corporate profit, is crucial to ensure that governments - and their people - benefit from revenues earned in their countries.   Further, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and implementing carbon taxes can both end incentives that deepen the climate emergency and release new funds for sustainable development.   As the IMF has recently recognised, this is especially crucial in stemming the immediate tide of COVID-19 and greening the economic recovery. The organisation would do well to make reporting on these issues a core and mandatory part of its Article IV surveillance.   While the IMF has taken some steps to free up liquidity for health and stimulus spending to address COVID-19, the UN Secretary-General, UNCTAD and others have called for a new allocation of Special Drawing Rights to bolster developing countries foreign exchange reserves, stimulate economies and release funds for spending on health and public services.   Mobilising the full financial power of the IMF in support of its member countries in an initiative which is affordable for LIDCs would be a welcome repeat of action taken in 2009. This would also represent a return to the initial post-war vision of the Bretton Woods institutions as instruments of multilateral response to crisis and underdevelopment.   In tandem, a widescale fulfilment of Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments - meeting and exceeding the longstanding target of 0.7% of GNI - is required. A handful of countries have fulfilled this commitment: now is the time for other high-income countries to join them going above 0.7% in a Race for the Top.   COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of even the most powerful countries and companies: as former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown points out, in today's interconnected world they are only as strong as the weakest link in the chain.   But the hit to donor countries economies should not be used as an excuse to shirk global responsibility or turn away from multilateralism like the climate crisis, COVID-19 illustrates that even when immediate effects are localised, the implications are global. The EU and others have launched an important initiative in pledging support for the WHO's COVID response.   It can only be a first step, however $7.4 billion, like the US$2 billion sought by the World Food Programme to address acute hunger impacts, is in stark contrast to the trillions being found for national rescue plans by OECD economies.   Only a major influx of funding - overseen through principles of transparency and accountability and the participation of civil society - can enable the concerted political action and system strengthening required to end the pandemic, deliver the Paris Climate Agreement and achieve the universal promise of the SDGs.   Private finance has a key role to play, but currently investment and lending decisions are not sufficiently aligned with environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, and affordability for LIDCs remains a major concern. Over a year ago, we called for a new public finance target for high-income countries, to ensure their climate finance commitments were genuinely additional to the 50-year-old promises on aid.   Such a global plan for renewal and sustainability is now more pressing than ever, to enable governments to finance their development priorities and achieve their sustainable development agreements, including universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene and the transition to a zero-carbon global economy.   Scientists estimate we have less than ten years to restore the world to a sustainable pathway and avoid the compounded and catastrophic effects of climate change.   Addressing the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 while turning towards climate justice will require no less than a complete transformation of the current financial system and global economy.   Almost 80 years ago during World War II the British economist William Beveridge provided the intellectual foundation for the UK's National Health Service, which now forms the backbone to the country's response to the pandemic. In launching his seminal report, he said that 'a revolutionary time in the world's history is a time for revolutions, not for patching'. We would do well to heed his words today.   * Katie Tobin is Advocacy Coordinator at WaterAid UK in New York, John Garrett is Senior Policy Advisor for Finance at WaterAid UK and Chilufya Chileshe is WaterAid's Regional Advocacy Manager for Southern Africa.   http://washmatters.wateraid.org/blog/finding-money-for-public-health-green-economic-recovery-and-sustainable-development-goals http://washmatters.wateraid.org/blog/five-human-rights-principles-people-centre-stage-water-sanitation-hygiene-covid-response http://washmatters.wateraid.org/blog   Apr. 2020   COVID-19 puts the human right to water front and centre, by Maude Barlow for the Council of Canadians   The current coronavirus pandemic is greatly exacerbated by the global water crisis and adds urgency to the fight for the human right to water.   Even before COVID-19 struck, the United Nations called water scarcity 'the scourge of the earth'. At current rates of depletion and pollution, by 2025, two-thirds of the world's people are likely to be living in water-stressed areas.   Every day, more than two billion people around the world are forced to drink contaminated water. Diarrhea caused by contaminated water and poor sanitation kills a child under five years old every two minutes.   And the harm is not confined to the poor countries of the global South. More than two million people in the United States lack running water and basic indoor plumbing, and a report by Food and Water Watch found that 15 million Americans had their water shut off in just one recent year due to an inability to pay mounting water bills.   Enter the pandemic. According to health experts, one of the most important things we can all do to stop the spread of the coronavirus is wash our hands often, and well, with soap and hot water and keep our surroundings clean.   But more than half the global population lacks access to somewhere to wash with soap and warm water. Three quarters of households, as well as nearly half of health-care facilities in developing countries, lack access to clean water on site.   The charity WaterAid says that the coronavirus pandemic exposes the vulnerability of people without access to water and warns that we should be fearful of what is to come in Africa and parts of Asia with this double crisis.   Eighty per cent of the seven million residents of Dharavi, Asia's largest urban slum located in Mumbai, India, have no running water. Human rights groups report that 36 million people in Mexico do not have regular access to water. The people of the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, share one pit latrine with as many as 150 others.   Aid agencies and governments are scrambling to provide emergency water and sanitation services to those without. Here in Canada, there are still more than 100 First Nations communities without access to safe, clean water and sanitation.   The federal government has recognized that the lack of water and health care puts these communities in a particularly vulnerable situation and has targeted substantial funds and programs to First Nations. In the U.S., more than 90 cities have suspended their shut-off policies to combat COVID-19.   But none of this is sufficient to the crisis. Ten years ago this summer, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution affirming that water and sanitation are fundamental human rights. Soon after, the UN Human Rights Council spelled out the obligations this placed on governments.   While the UN recognition of the human right to water did not immediately change life for those without access to water and sanitation, governments and aid agencies did start to take important steps. More than four dozen countries have now either enshrined the right to water in their constitutions or framed the right within national legislation.   However, the commitment to honour the human right to water is strongly undermined both by a lack of funds designated by governments and by the pollution, over extraction, diversion and mismanagement of the planet's water sources. All the human rights in the world will not provide clean water where there is none.   While we fight COVID-19 with all our strength, we urgently need to protect and restore watersheds and provide access to clean, public water for all. The World Resources Institute estimates it would cost just one per cent of global GDP to invest in the infrastructure required to provide clean water for all by 2030.   In Canada, safe water and sanitation in First Nations communities must move to the top of the political agenda, as must laws and practices to protect the precious water heritage of the country.   Surely it must be a key goal of a post-pandemic world to urgently protect and restore watersheds and to ensure water justice to the half of the world that does not have it. Let us not wait for another pandemic to address this travesty.   http://canadians.org/analysis/covid-19-puts-human-right-water-front-and-centre http://canadians.org/analysis/water-justice-time-covid-19 http://www.blueplanetproject.net/index.php/water-justice-covid/ http://www.blueplanetproject.net/index.php/sdg6-water-and-sanitation-are-fundamental-services-privatization-is-not-a-means-of-implementation http://gi-escr.org/en/component/search/?searchword=WATER&searchphrase=all&Itemid=101 http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/issues/clean-water/ http://www.fian.org/en/news/article/new-guidelines-strengthen-africans-right-to-water-2543 Visit the related web page
	Ecological Threat Register 2020 by Steve Killelea Institute for Economics and Peace   The Ecological Threat Register analyses risk from population growth, water stress, food insecurity, droughts, floods, cyclones, rising temperatures and sea levels.   Over the next 30 years, the report finds that 141 countries are exposed to at least one ecological threat by 2050. The 19 countries with the highest number of threats have a combined population of 2.1 billion people, which is around 25 per cent of the world’s total population.   The ETR analyses the levels of societal resilience within countries to determine whether they have the necessary coping capacities to deal with future ecological shocks.   The report finds that more than one billion people live in countries that are unlikely to have the ability to mitigate and adapt to new ecological threats, creating conditions for mass displacement by 2050.   The country with the largest number of people at risk of mass displacements is Pakistan, followed by Ethiopia and Iran. Haiti faces the highest threat in Central America. In these countries, even small ecological threats and natural disasters could result in mass population displacement, affecting regional and global security.   Regions that have high resilience, such as Europe and North America, will not be immune from the wider impact of ecological threats, such as a significant number of refugees. The European refugee crisis in the wake of wars in Syria and Iraq in 2015 saw two million people flee to Europe and highlights the link between rapid population shifts with political turbulence and social unrest.   However, Europe, the US and other developed countries are facing fewer ecological threats and also have higher levels of resilience to deal with these risks. Developed countries which are facing no threats include Sweden, Norway, Ireland, and Iceland. In total there are 16 countries facing no threats.   Steve Killelea, Founder & Executive Chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace, said:   “Ecological threats and climate change pose serious challenges to global peacefulness. Over the next 30 years lack of access to food and water will only increase without urgent global cooperation. In the absence of action civil unrest, riots and conflict will most likely increase. COVID-19 is already exposing gaps in the global food chain”.   Many of the countries most at risk from ecological threats are also predicted to experience significant population increases, such as Nigeria, Angola, Burkina Faso and Uganda.   These countries already struggle to address ecological issues. They already suffer from resource scarcity, low levels of peacefulness and high poverty rates.   Steve Killelea, said: “This will have huge social and political impacts, not just in the developing world, but also in the developed, as mass displacement will lead to larger refugee flows to the most developed countries. Ecological change is the next big global threat to our planet and people’s lives, and we must unlock the power of business and government action to build resilience for the places most at risk.“   Food Insecurity   The global demand for food is projected to increase by 50 per cent by 2050, meaning that without a substantial increase in supply, many more people will be at risk of hunger. Currently, more than two billion people globally face uncertain access to sufficient food. This number is expected to increase to 3.5 billion people by 2050 which is likely to affect global reslience.   The five most food insecure countries are Sierra Leone, Liberia, Niger, Malawi and Lesotho, where more than half of the population experience uncertainty in access to sufficient food to be healthy. COVID-19 has exacerbated levels of food insecurity and given rise to substantial price increases, highlighting potential volatility caused by future ecological change.   In high income countries, the prevalence of undernourishment is still high at 2.7 per cent, or one in 37 people do not have sufficient food to function normally. Undernourishment in developed countries is a byproduct of poverty; Colombia, Slovakia and Mexico have the highest undernourishment rates of OECD countries.   Water Stress   Over the past decade, the number of recorded water-related conflict and violent incidents increased by 270 per cent worldwide. Since 2000, most incidents have taken place in Yemen and Iraq, which highlights the interplay between extreme water stress, resilience and peacefulness, as they are among the least peaceful countries as measured by the Global Peace Index 2020.   Today, 2.6 billion people experience high or extreme water stress – by 2040, this will increase to 5.4 billion people. The majority of these countries are located in South Asia, Middle East, North Africa (MENA), South-Western Europe, and Asia Pacific. Some of the worst affected countries by 2040 will be Lebanon, Singapore, Israel and Iraq, while China and India are also likely to be impacted. Given the past increases in water-related conflict this is likely to drive further tension and reduce global resilience.   Natural Disasters   Changes in climate, especially the warming of global temperatures, increases the likelihood of weather-related natural disasters such as droughts, as well as increasing the intensity of storms and creating wetter monsoons. If natural disasters occur at the same rate seen in the last few decades, 1.2 billion people could be displaced globally by 2050.   Asia Pacific has had the most deaths from natural disasters with over 581,000 recorded since 1990. Earthquakes have claimed the most lives in the region, with a death toll exceeding 319,000, followed by storms at 191,000.   Flooding has been the most common natural disaster since 1990, representing 42 per cent of recorded natural disasters. China’s largest event were the 2010 floods and landslides, which led to 15.2 million displaced people. Flooding is also the most common natural disaster in Europe, accounting for 35 per cent of recorded disasters in the region and is expected to rise.   19 countries included in the ETR are at risk of rising sea levels, where at least 10 per cent of each country’s population could be affected. This will have significant consequences for low-lying coastal areas in China, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand over the next three decades – as well as cities with large populations like Alexandria in Egypt, the Hague in the Netherlands, and Osaka in Japan.   Development Aid   Aid can be used as a mechanism to build resilience to ecological shocks such as droughts, water stress and food insecurity in developing countries. Climate-related aid has increased 34 fold from one billion US dollars in 2000 to US $34 billion in 2018 and is primarily spent in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Asia-Pacific. Although these increases are substantial, they fall well short of what is needed to address these issues going forward.   http://visionofhumanity.org/indexes/ecological-threat-register/ http://bit.ly/35hCJTA http://www.visionofhumanity.org/peacefulness-declines-to-lowest-level-in-15-years/ http://www.visionofhumanity.org/the-covid-19-pandemic-and-inequality-and-democracy/ http://public.wmo.int/en/resources/united_in_science http://www.ipcc.ch/reports/ http://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/ http://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-peace-index-2021 Visit the related web page
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