The Climate Change Threat to Crops

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Scientists have warned hotter temperatures and more erratic rainfall could increase the frequency and intensity of droughts, with multi-year droughts already wreaking havoc in many nations. Five years of recurring droughts have destroyed maize and bean harvests in Central America’s Dry Corridor, for example, leaving poor farmers struggling to feed their families and pushing them to migrate, the United Nations said in 2019.
Catastrophic crop failures caused by extreme weather in just one country could disrupt global food supplies and drive price spikes in an interconnected world, exposing how climate change threatens global stability, researchers said.

They examined how the global trade and supplies of wheat, a crop used for food staples like bread and pasta, would be affected by four years of severe drought in the United States, one of the world’s top exporters of the grain. 
Based on two models of how countries could try to meet their needs, an international research team found the United States would deplete nearly all its wheat reserves after four years in both scenarios, while global stocks could drop by 31%.

The 174 countries to which America exports wheat would see their reserves decrease, even though they did not themselves suffer failed harvests, according to a study published in the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.
“It affects almost every country in the world because the U.S. has so many trade links,” said lead author Alison Heslin, a researcher at Columbia University’s Center for Climate Systems Research and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Those links mean there is a cascading effect, either directly from the United States or via one of its trading partners, which could reduce the amount of wheat available and increase prices, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. As reserves are depleted, changes in production would have a bigger impact on the price of food, Heslin added. Reduced global reserves would also mean a smaller buffer against future shocks such as a drought in other wheat-producing nations like Russia or France, she said.
The wheat study was based on data from the 1930s American Dust Bowl disaster when maize and wheat production plummeted due to intense drought, higher temperatures and strong winds, causing thousands of deaths.

Heslin said global food security was key to people’s health and safety, with international food price spikes in 2008 and 2011 curtailing families’ ability to purchase food and rattling political stability as people protested on the streets.

Maintaining strategic food reserves and a diverse set of trading partners could help countries reduce risks, she added.

Sunday was World Water Day

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The UN warned that more than half the global population lacking access to safely managed sanitation.



Decades of chronic underfunding of water infrastructure is putting many countries at worse risk in the coronavirus crisis. Good hygiene – soap and water – are the first line of defence against coronavirus and a vast range of other diseases, yet three quarters of households in developing countries do not have access to somewhere to wash with soap and water, according to Tim Wainwright, chief executive of the charity WaterAid. A third of healthcare facilities in developing countries also lack access to clean water on site.



“It’s really obvious that in Africa and parts of Asia we should be very fearful of what is to come,” he said. “The coronavirus crisis highlights how vulnerable the world is.”



The UN World Water Development report, pointed to the underfunding of water infrastructure around the world, despite its importance.



Richard Connor, editor-in-chief of the report, explained that water was often overlooked for spending and investment because the economic benefits of better water and sanitation were not emphasised. The coronavirus crisis sheds new light on those mistakes.

“One of the reasons underlying the investment gap in water and sanitation is that these services are perceived mainly as a social – and in some cases environmental – issue, rather than an economic one, like energy,” he said. “Yet the economic costs of an outbreak such as Covid-19 are enormous, both in terms of national economies and stock markets, as well as in terms of household revenue – when people cannot work because of sickness or lockdowns. Realising the economic importance of water and sanitation should provide an additional catalyst for greater investment.”



Yet improving access to water and sanitation has clear benefits – in the coronavirus crisis, and beyond. Connor quotes evidence that suggests that the return on investment in water and sanitation can be high, with a global average benefit–cost ratio of 5.5 for improved sanitation and 2.0 for improved drinking water, when broader macroeconomic benefits are taken into account.

While trillions in investment have been poured into reducing greenhouse gas emissions around the world in the last decade, through clean energy and low-carbon technology, few resources have been devoted to the water supply. This year’s UN water report has found that opportunities are being missed to use water projects to cut greenhouse gas emissions while improving access to clean water.



Sewage treatment is a clear example: wastewater gives rise to between 3% and 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions globally, more than flying. Processing sewage can turn wastewater from a source of carbon to a source of clean energy, if the methane is captured and used in place of natural gas. Currently, between 80% and 90% of wastewater around the world is discharged to the environment with no treatment.
Of the hundreds of billions in climate finance devoted to developing countries in recent years, projects involving water made up less than 1% in 2016, the latest year for which full figures were available, according to the report.
“Water does not need to be a problem – it can be part of the solution [to the climate crisis],” said Audrey Azoulay, director-general of Unesco. “Water can support efforts to both reduce greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change.”
Farming methods can also be adapted to use water more efficiently and cut carbon at the same time, because when soils are better managed they hold more organic matter, more carbon and more water – rendering them more fertile as well as sequestering greenhouse gases. That makes investing in water a “win-win-win”, in terms of improving people’s lives, generating economic growth and helping to cut carbon
Wainwright said, “The world is not running out of water, but there is water stress. There is competition for water resources, but making sure that the people who need water get it is a good investment.”

Socialism is the Cure to the Capitalist Plague

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Humanity is faced with another in what has been a series of crises from the impending catastrophe of climate change to brutal armed conflicts creating mass exoduses of peoples. The Covid-19 pandemic is the latest.  It is leading to the potential collapse of the world economy. It is a crisis where whole populations are having to change their behaviour, to stop travelling, to stay at home and to support others in the community. Obliged by circumstances people are re-examine our lives, something the environmentalists with their proposed life-style changes tried to do but so far failed to succeed in. Although we are concerned about our immediate future in the short term term, re-accessing our way of living could be potentially liberating, an opportunity for social change in the way our society runs and decides its priorities. People now are  beginning to recognise the need for a new way of living and a fundamental change in the status quo.  The “natural” order has been found to be unnatural.


Despite all manner of frantic policy initiatives, governments are no longer in in control of events. Widespread chaos  intensifying, affecting not just public health but disrupting the very basis of capitalism itself. Stock markets crash,  businesses collapse and the global supply chains are broken. Countries take unilateral action without international consultation or consensus.

Welcome or not, even those in the seats of power now understand that this crisis could force the changes that they have dreaded in the past and are now long over-due to protect civilisation. The Covid-19 crisis can potentially change everything. A coordinated response is now demanded, cooperation on a global scale and no more competition or nationalism. A united humanity putting people and our planet first.

For sure this pandemic will pass but we must if we embrace the opportunity it has offered, that gives us a real chance that afterwards our daily lives will be fundamentally changed forever and for the better. We can re-imagine how we can live in harmony with one another. When the Covid-19 scare has passed, we should work together for a different economic system  a different social system. We need to make sure that what we get is a society upgrade that benefits everyone. We need socialism where we eliminate poverty, hunger, destitution, those social ill which are harbingers of plagues.



Quote of the Day

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“If the biggest and most powerful countries are struggling, how is Gaza supposed to cope?” says Ayman al-Halabi, a doctor at the laboratories run by Gaza’s health ministry



Palestinian officials have announced the first two cases of COVID-19 in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Our Sick Society

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Diehard supporters of capitalism are beginning to fight back against the government’s apparent decision to put people or at least the health service before the health of the capitalist economy.

Sparked off by an article in Saturday’s Times by Matthew Paris entitled “Crashing the economy will also cost lives”, a debate is raging on “crashing the economy versus sacrificing lives” with some actually arguing that minimising deaths today should not be the objective.

It is true that crashing the capitalist economy, i.e. provoking a slump, will also cost lives, as always does happen in a slump through increased ill health and suicides of those who lose their jobs and so their previous level of income.

So that’s all capitalism has to offer: less deaths today and more tomorrow or more deaths today and less deaths tomorrow. 
We can let the sick supporters of this sick system argue which of these is the lesser evil.

The very fact that this is the choice under capitalism is itself an indictment of the profit-driven system. And another good reason why it has to go.

In socialism if a pandemic breaks out (as it might) this wouldn’t be the choice as minimising deaths today could be the objective without endangering future production as this would be directly for use and not for sale and profit as now under capitalism. Some adjustments would have to be made but nobody would need to be denied access to what they needed to live and enjoy life as the direct link between taking part in production and what you get will have been broken.


ALB

More Migrant Misery

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Approximately a million undocumented migrants living under the radar in the UK could be at risk not only of contracting Covid-19 but also of going hungry  because of the crisis created by the pandemic, charities have warned.



Nobody knows exactly how many of these migrants are currently in the UK, as the Home Office does not have comprehensive records of their whereabouts. This group includes asylum seekers whose claims the Home Office has rejected but who are fearful of returning to their home countries and temporary workers whose visas have expired. Estimates are that there could be between 800,000 and 1.2 million of these migrants currently in the UK.



Asylum seekers with an active claim receive meagre support from the Home Office – £37.75 per week – to buy food and other essentials and no-choice accommodation. However, the vast majority of those whose cases have been refused receive no support at all. They are not allowed to work and survive thanks to a network of charities who provide survival packages of cooked meals at day centres, food parcels, secondhand clothing and supermarket vouchers. However, these charities have closed their day centres because of the pandemic
John, a 30-year-old from Cameroon who was refused asylum, lives in Manchester and said the virus had caused a lot of panic among migrants.
“All of the charities and the churches where I used to go to get help with food and other support are shut down now. I was sleeping at Victoria or Piccadilly Stations but the charity RAPAR that I’m a member of has found me some temporary accommodation. I can’t return to my country because the military is killing people there. We are all in a state of trauma.”


Mohammed, 30, was refused asylum despite coming from Eritrea, where the Home Office will not send people back to. He is based in London and says he is “desperate and struggling to survive” during the pandemic. 



“Every place where we got support is closed now. My friend gave me a bike because I have no money for bus fares. I’m cycling round everywhere looking for food but can’t find anything. If I can just find enough food to eat once a day, I think I will survive but I have not managed to find very much to eat. I’m not worried about coronavirus, I will accept whatever comes into my life with the virus. But I am worried that I will die from hunger.”



RAPAR’s chair of trustees, Dr Rhetta Moran is calling on the government to support undocumented, displaced and destitute people – those most vulnerable to Covid-19 – to come forward for safe housing without fear of being locked up.



Haringey Migrant Support Service has created an emergency fund for its homeless and destitute migrant visitors who they were previously supporting with food bank vouchers, food parcels and clothes. They were also providing lunch at their drop-in centres, which are not currently operating during the pandemic.

Dozens of NGOs are currently calling on government to provide support for destitute migrants. The Public Interest Law Centre, Project 17, Migrants’ Rights Network and others have produced an open letter to councils calling on them to establish Covid-19 homeless task forces for this group catering for such people.



It is unclear whether an initiative due to be announced on Monday to house homeless people in empty hotels will include destitute migrants or only British street homeless people. The latter have access to housing and other benefits, the former do not.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/23/million-undocumented-migrants-could-go-hungry-say-charities

It is worse for some

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While the developed world have been cutting interest rates to soften the economic blow of the coronavirus, the  Jubilee Debt Campaign report that borrowing costs were rising sharply for poor countries.



Interest rates rose on average by 3.5 percentage points for low- and middle-income countries since the mid-February and that costs for new borrowing stood at 10%.



At the same time, commodity prices have plunged, with the price of copper down by 21% since the start of 2020, oil 61% lower, and coffee falling by 15%. The Bloomberg commodity price index – which measures a basket of oil, metals and food prices – has dropped 27% since the start of the year and is now at its lowest level since 1986.



Countries were also being hurt by a falling number of overseas visitors, with small island states being particularly badly hit because of their size and economic reliance on tourism.



Tim Jones, policy head at Jubilee Debt Campaign said: “Urgent action is needed to support poorer countries being hit by the economic impacts of coronavirus, including a complete moratorium on debt payments for those most affected. Where economic shocks have pushed countries into debt crisis, the IMF needs to help restructure debt with previous lenders. Otherwise, its loans will just be used to pay off reckless lenders and maintain the debt crises. And the IMF itself needs to cancel debts owed to it by countries suffering the impact of the pandemic.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/22/urgent-call-to-head-off-new-debt-crisis-in-developing-world

It is always the poor who suffer the most

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Those most vulnerable to the coronavirus are the elderly and people with serious underlying illnesses such as diabetes or cancer. But people who lack access to healthcare, or live in a setting where sanitary systems are not adequately developed, can also be at risk. 

Cecilia Tacoli, Principal researcher, Human Settlements, for International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), said social distancing is “unrealistic”  for the world’s poor. 

“Low-income settlements in cities of low- and middle-income nations are typically very densely populated, with very inadequate provision of basic infrastructure, [water and sanitation] and services [health services], all of which encourage the spread of communicable diseases,” she said.



“The vast majority of the urban poor do not have access to formal employment but rely on casual jobs which only provide meagre incomes. This means that current prescriptions – from washing hands frequently to social isolation and working from home – are unrealistic.”

Tacoli added that although it is clear that the elderly are most at risk globally, the vulnerability of older women could prove disastrous.

“It is worth keeping in mind that throughout the world about three billion people live in such settlements, and that in many cities they are the majority of the population. Older people, especially women, often play a very important role looking after children and ill relatives. These two observations are critical in considering worst-case scenarios,” she said.

“The high density of people and the inability to create effective social distancing are key factors in making transmission more likely,” said Eric Fevre, a professor of veterinary infectious diseases at the University of Liverpool.  Nor are slum communities isolated from the rest of the city, leaving them as vulnerable to the disease as elsewhere.

“In addition, I would add that such settlements are at risk because the people who live there have to be able to access other richer parts of the city for work,” Fevre told Al Jazeera. 

Many residents of such settlements live in extended families but have only a few rooms. Some may have only one. And if the area itself were quarantined, the situation could even become dangerous because any illness could spread quickly through the densely populated area.

Cancelled Holidays?

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Under the Package Travel Regulations 2018 package holidaymakers whose trips are cancelled are entitled to all their money back within two weeks of the trip being called off.



An estimated two million overseas package holidays were due to depart in the first 30 days of the government’s warning against non-essential travel, running from 17 March to 16 April 2020. They have all been cancelled – representing around £1bn that the law insists should be paid back to consumers. Many hard-pressed holidaymakers, facing uncertainty about their own incomes, are understandably anxious to get the cash that is due to them.





But The Independent understands that the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, will agree to protect Britain’s beleaguered travel industry.





For travel firms earning no revenue, having to hand back payments for cancelled holidays immediately could force them out of business. Shapps is expected to agree to companies issuing credit notes enabling the holidaymaker to book a new trip within two years. Any customer who does not redeem the voucher can then claim the sum in cash. If the travel firm goes bust in the interim, financial protection will be provided by the government-backed Atol scheme.
The move will anger many travellers who entered into contracts that guaranteed a full refund if the operator called off the holiday. They will instead become unwilling creditors of the company. Until the rules change, a strict entitlement to a cash refund remains despite dozens of travel firms rejecting requests for refunds.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/package-holiday-refund-rules-suspended-abta-coronavirus-a9417261.html

Breaking the School Rules

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Education leaders have told companies not to put profit over people, claiming attempts to stop the spread of coronavirus could fail if too many parents try to keep their children in school. Only children of key workers – including medics, police and food distribution staff – are eligible for places from Monday.

Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said, “My appeal to companies and other employers: please do not interpret the key workers lists liberally for your own ends. Do not put profit over people.”



The National Education Union joint general secretary, Dr Mary Bousted, said teachers were on the frontline. “They can only do this vital work if everyone plays fair.” 



Pets at Home argued that its workers were eligible under the criteria of providing key goods.

The document, signed by the company’s group legal director, states its workers qualify under the provision of hygienic and veterinary medicines. It says that its Vets4Pets business and other specialist veterinary staff are on the essential workers list. But it also claims that those working at its “Groom Room”, where a bath, brush and blow-dry for a dog starts at £20, are eligible, as well as store staff, customer services workers and other office support functions.



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