id
int64 0
103k
| text
stringlengths 0
63.9k
| source
stringclasses 17
values | added
stringclasses 17
values | created
stringlengths 0
222
⌀ | metadata
dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1,300 | RNA therapeutics Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/rna-therapeutics/",
"author": null
} |
1,301 | Road to COP28 Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/road-to-cop28/",
"author": null
} |
1,302 | Robot babies Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/robot-babies/",
"author": null
} |
1,303 | Robot cities Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/robot-cities/",
"author": null
} |
1,304 | Rohingya refugees Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/rohingya-refugees/",
"author": null
} |
1,305 | Russia terrorism Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/russia-terrorism/",
"author": null
} |
1,306 | Science against the clock Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/science-against-the-clock/",
"author": null
} |
1,307 | Science for all Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/science-for-all/",
"author": null
} |
1,308 | Search for cybersecurity Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/search-for-cybersecurity/",
"author": null
} |
1,309 | Sexual harassment Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/sexual-harassment/",
"author": null
} |
1,310 | Shock mobility Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/shock-mobility/",
"author": null
} |
1,311 | Sinking Cities Archives - 360
How Jakarta has dug itself into a hole | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/sinking-cities/",
"author": "How Jakarta has dug itself into a hole"
} |
1,312 | Social media Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/social-media/",
"author": null
} |
1,313 | Solomon Islands election Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/solomon-islands-election/",
"author": null
} |
1,314 | Space and sustainability Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/space-and-sustainability/",
"author": null
} |
1,315 | Space mining Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/space-mining/",
"author": null
} |
1,316 | Space wars Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/space-wars/",
"author": null
} |
1,317 | Species extinction Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/species-extinction/",
"author": null
} |
1,318 | Standing up to violence against women Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/standing-up-to-violence-against-women/",
"author": null
} |
1,319 | State of Democracy Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/state-of-democracy/",
"author": null
} |
1,320 | State of surrogacy Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/state-of-surrogacy/",
"author": null
} |
1,321 | State of the Environment Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/state-of-the-environment/",
"author": null
} |
1,322 | State of the SDGs Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/state-of-the-sdgs/",
"author": null
} |
1,323 | Stemming species extinction Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/stemming-species-extinction/",
"author": null
} |
1,324 | Still fighting HIV Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/still-fighting-hiv/",
"author": null
} |
1,325 | Student debt Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/student-debt/",
"author": null
} |
1,326 | Supply chain threats Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/supply-chain-threats/",
"author": null
} |
1,327 | TAIWAN SOFT POWER Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/taiwan-soft-power/",
"author": null
} |
1,328 | Taming misinformation Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/taming-misinformation/",
"author": null
} |
1,329 | Techno-nationalism Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/techno-nationalism/",
"author": null
} |
1,330 | The ADHD challenge Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/the-adhd-challenge/",
"author": null
} |
1,331 | The consultancy conundrum Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/the-consultancy-conundrum/",
"author": null
} |
1,332 | The EV charge Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/the-ev-charge/",
"author": null
} |
1,333 | The Fertility Industry Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/the-fertility-industry/",
"author": null
} |
1,334 | The state of cancer care Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/the-state-of-cancer-care/",
"author": null
} |
1,335 | The Swift Effect Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/the-swift-effect/",
"author": null
} |
1,336 | The TikTok test Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/the-tiktok-test/",
"author": null
} |
1,337 | The wrap on food waste Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/the-wrap-on-food-waste/",
"author": null
} |
1,338 | Tobacco’s toxic reach Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/tobaccos-toxic-reach/",
"author": null
} |
1,339 | Tourism economies Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/tourism-economies/",
"author": null
} |
1,340 | Trust in elections Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/trust-in-elections/",
"author": null
} |
1,341 | Trust in science Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/trust-in-science/",
"author": null
} |
1,342 | Ukraine one year on Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/ukraine-one-year-on/",
"author": null
} |
1,343 | Ukraine two years on Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/ukraine-two-years-on/",
"author": null
} |
1,344 | University challenge Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/university-challenge/",
"author": null
} |
1,345 | Unnecessary Drugs Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/unnecessary-drugs/",
"author": null
} |
1,346 | Vaccines beyond COVID Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/vaccines-beyond-covid/",
"author": null
} |
1,347 | Water conflict and cooperation Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/water-conflict-and-cooperation/",
"author": null
} |
1,348 | Water conflict Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/water-conflict/",
"author": null
} |
1,349 | Weapons trade Archives - 360
What jetskis, horses and gun-toting leaders have to do with international peace
Global leaders who style themselves as military strong men may weaken United Nations negotiations over the trade in arms.
(more…) | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | What jetskis, horses and gun-toting leaders have to do with international peace
Global leaders who style themselves as military strong men may weaken United Nations negotiations over the trade in arms.
(more…) | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/weapons-trade/",
"author": null
} |
1,350 | WELLBEING ECONOMY Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/wellbeing-economy/",
"author": null
} |
1,351 | Who owns IP Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/who-owns-ip/",
"author": null
} |
1,352 | Women and COVID Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/women-and-covid/",
"author": null
} |
1,353 | World Environment Day 2023 Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/world-environment-day-2023/",
"author": null
} |
1,354 | World fisheries day Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/world-fisheries-day/",
"author": null
} |
1,355 | World Patient Safety Day Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/world-patient-safety-day/",
"author": null
} |
1,356 | World Rivers Day Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/world-rivers-day/",
"author": null
} |
1,357 | World Zoonoses Day Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/world-zoonoses-day/",
"author": null
} |
1,358 | Young minds on screens Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/young-minds-on-screens/",
"author": null
} |
1,359 | Your right to information Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/your-right-to-information/",
"author": null
} |
1,360 | Youth mental health Archives - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/specialreport/youth-mental-health/",
"author": null
} |
1,361 | Spend now, save later on poverty-curbing policies - 360
Ana Gamarra Rondinel, Anna MH Price
Published on May 2, 2024
The first 1,000 days of a child’s life is among their most important, but a huge number of Australian parents are struggling to make ends meet.
If our children grow up poor, we’re a poorer nation.
Financial stress is biting Australian families hard as the cost of living crisis deepens and that has a detrimental effect on children.
From June 2020 to March 2024, 71 percent of the 8,943 families with children under five surveyed by the Melbourne Institute had difficulty paying for essential goods and services or were only “making ends meet”. This was 2 percent higher than families with older children and 5 percent higher than those without children.
One of the reasons for financial hardships being more pronounced for families with children aged under five years is that the arrival of a child substantially impacts household finances.
In our recent study, we looked at the relationship between household income and poverty when a family in Australia has their first baby. Using 20 years of information, we followed almost 1,000 parents over nine years, from the lead-up to having a baby and the five years afterward.
We found that, around the first child’s birth, household income drops by an average of 18 percent for two-parent households and about 27 percent for one-parent households.
Around two in five households stayed or moved into poverty following the arrival of their first child. Again, this was much higher for one-parent households, where half stayed or moved into poverty, compared with a quarter of two-parent households.
Then we wondered whether the government’s family payments help mitigate poverty around the birth of the first child. The short answer is yes, they substantially reduce poverty by about half. However, despite the reduction, around one in three sole parents and one in 10 parents in dual-caregiver households are left to raise their children in poverty.
The income supplements during the COVID-19 pandemic also had a huge impact on poverty, reducing it from 19 percent to 14 percent in only three months before subsidies were removed and poverty rebounded. These precedents show the power of policy and how it could be doing more.
Money matters for children’s health and development. This is especially the case in the first 1,000 days of life, a sensitive developmental period that lays the foundations for health and opportunity.
Studies have shown that increasing household income helps children’s cognitive, social-behavioural development and health, while low income or poverty in early childhood can have wide-ranging, long-lasting negative consequences.
The Royal Children’s Hospital National Child Health Poll is Australia’s only representative survey of families to have recently measured “material deprivation”, which is when a household is unable to afford one or more items that are essential for health, such as food, utilities, rent/mortgage repayments and healthcare.
Data (made available to the author and currently under review) shows that deprivation increased from 29 percent in June 2020 to 35 percent in April 2023. Food and utilities were the most commonly missed items and food insecurity increased the most, from 17 percent to 24 percent over the three years.
As with the Melbourne Institute’s survey, deprivation was higher for sole caregivers than multi-caregiver households (54 percent compared with 28 percent in 2023) and for families with children aged 0-4 years (46 percent in 2023), compared with primary and high-school-aged children (both 34 percent).
Cost of living and financial hardship can be addressed through policy.
Trialling income supplements for families with young children is a head-on prevention strategy, while families experiencing financial hardship could be identified and connected to wellbeing services using existing universal early years services as an early intervention approach.
Beyond that, financial hardship (such as poverty, deprivation and financial stress) can be better measured to have its impacts more comprehensively charted — such as annual measurement in Australia’s wellbeing budget and associated framework.
Doing so would enable Australia’s government services and programs to gauge how policy decisions reduce financial hardship and give them more information to form a response.
But no single response will comprehensively wipe out financial hardship on Australian families with young children. Australia could learn from the experience of the European Commission and adopt a “Childhood Guarantee” that ensures every child at risk of financial hardship has access to the most basic rights.
A child’s future is not dictated solely by their early family environments, but it plays a pivotal role in shaping it. Beyond the important individual and family benefits, research shows tackling the drivers of early adversity like poverty can help wider society in the long-term as it reduces the strain on rehabilitation programs, tuition subsidies and expenditure on police.
Addressing the cost-of-living crisis and the ensuing financial hardship for families with young children offers an opportunity to invest in our collective future.
Dr Ana Gamarra Rondinel is a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at theUniversity of Melbourne. She is also a Research Fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course.
Dr Anna MH Price is a Senior Research Fellow and the Child Health Equity Scholar at the Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital, as well as an Honorary with the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Price’s research was supported by The Erdi Foundation Child Health Equity (COVID-19) scholarship and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on May 2, 2024 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/spend-now-save-later-on-poverty-curbing-policies/",
"author": "Ana Gamarra Rondinel, Anna MH Price"
} |
1,362 | Sponge cities beating urban heat in China - 360
Baojie He
Published on February 28, 2022
Infrastructure to prevent urban flooding has benefits for preventing urban heat.
Zhuhai, a city of 2.4 million in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is not what you might picture a city at the heart of the world’s most populous area to be. With 708 urban parks, tree-lined waterfront promenades, and a connection between sea and mountain, Zhuhai is a tourism destination known as a forest city.
Zhuhai wasn’t always so leafy. At the end of 2014, the Central Government of China issued an edict promoting what it described as ‘sponge cities’. In 30 national pilots, with 1.2–1.8 billion RMB in support, China pushed urban design developed to prevent flooding.
A sponge city, according to Chinese guidelines, is one that has transformed hard surfaces, such as roads and pavements, into permeable surfaces that can absorb, seep, purify and store water, and later release stored water for use. In other parts of the world, similar infrastructure projects are known as low-impact development, blue-green infrastructure or water sensitive urban design. But only China has implemented them at a city-wide scale.
Zhuhai has constructed more than 115 square kilometres of sponge city infrastructure since 2016, accounting for nearly one quarter of the total urban built-up area. Zhuhai boasts porous brick or concrete pavement, porous asphalt roads, green roofs, green verges, bio-retention basins, ponds, rainwater wetlands, grassy swales and vegetation buffer zones.
EMBED START Image {id: "editor_1"}
EMBED END Image {id: "editor_1"}
The ‘sponge cities’ have been successful in mitigating urban flooding problems. But they also have an unintended benefit of reducing urban heat deaths. This is important because extreme heat kills.
Across Europe, it is estimated that the extreme heat events of 2020 caused a total of 6,340 extra deaths in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile in British Columbia, Canada, the heatwave summer 2021 caused 569 extra deaths within a few short weeks. Cities are often the most dangerous place in a heatwave, with studies showing they can be up to 10-12 °C hotter than surrounding rural areas.
Although urban heat has been identified as a silent killer and one of the deadliest weather-related disasters, formal responses have not been well implemented. In China, there are no dedicated plans, policies and actions towards urban heat mitigation and adaptation. Potential urban cooling strategies are also hindered by the changing built environment and urban expansion, especially in developing countries. But controlling urban flooding through sponge city systems can have huge benefits for urban heat mitigation.
For example, a study in Guangzhou, China suggested the adoption of porous bricks and porous concrete could lower pavement surface temperature by 12 and 20 °C, respectively. The air temperature can be reduced by up to 1 °C.
A green roof – one with vegetation covering it – reduces rainfall running off, alleviating flooding, and can reduce ambient temperature and alleviate heat stress through evaporative cooling in summer. A case study in Hangzhou, China indicated that green roofs could generate moderate effects on pedestrian air temperature reduction (around 0.10–0.30 °C), while achieving a peak cooling performance of 0.82 °C.
A sponge city can realise synergies of urban flooding and urban heat island mitigation, and the co-benefits could be applied in countries that have already established low-impact water management practices.
In China, the co-benefits approach is already working: investment in sponge cities at the national and provincial levels can be used to subsidise urban heat mitigation works.
In addition to reducing temperature and flooding, a sponge city can provide financial, institutional and social benefits.
Sponge city construction is capable of connecting different government departments and enhancing synergies, but only if there is a clear division of responsibilities. Industry and the private sector can also play important roles in providing social and financial support. Policies that detail everyone’s role are required, along with a a technical database that includes solutions to likely problems across disciplines and assesses the performance of the common techniques..
Sponge city works can also improve social equity through reducing ambient temperature, improving outdoor thermal comfort, reducing heat-induced morbidity and mortality, and alleviating energy poverty.
Other projects for urban heat mitigation can be realised through a sponge city approach, such as green buildings, low-carbon eco-cities, smart cities, forest cities and haze treatment. Many challenges from technical, economic, social and institutional perspectives remain, and local pilot projects are needed for performance assessment, project optimisation and reducing uncertainties and risks.
Beyond the mountain-sea-city landscape, Zhuhai has rapid economic development and a thriving arts and cultural scene. The green-blue infrastructure development has been no impediment to the city’s continued growth. This world-class example shows the multiple benefits achieved through sponge cities — a glimpse into a future that looks safer and more equitable for all.
Bao-Jie He is a Research Professor of Urban Climate and Sustainable Built Environment at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, China. Baojie is working on topics of Cool Cities and Communities and Net Zero Carbon Built Environment. Dr He is a UNSW Alumni (Australia), Green Talents Alumni (Germany) in 2021 and is one of the top 2 percent scientists (Mendeley) from 2020.
This article has been updated and republished to reflect the record heatwave affecting most of the northern hemisphere. It was originally published on March 11, 2022.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Editors Note: Baojie He in China | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on February 28, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/sponge-cities-beating-urban-heat-in-china/",
"author": "Baojie He"
} |
1,363 | Spooked by disunity: why some Malaysians prefer autocracy to democracy - 360
Chin-Huat Wong
Published on December 8, 2021
Democracy relies and thrives on competing ideas to keep it honest. But how does that work in a country which has learnt that disunity leads to chaos, or worse?
By Chin-Huat Wong, Sunway University
Malaysia, like other democracies, faces the challenges laid out by US President Joe Biden in his quest for democratic renewal: defence against authoritarianism, the fight against corruption, and advancing respect for human rights. But democracy, via its checks and balances based on competing ideas and interests, is of its essence, divisive.
The fundamental challenge to democratisation in Malaysia is making political divisions work in a culture steeped in the idea that disunity will lead to disaster, often with good reason.
Malaysia has long been indoctrinated by the idea that division will weaken it against foreign power-threats or internal enemies. The multi-ethnic make-up of the population only compounds this focus on unity above all.
Six decades after independence, the country only had its first government change in 2018.
A fear of communal violence resulting from political divisions is not just the result of political manipulation. For many Malaysians, it is a lived reality, and the pathway to a stable system is anything but straightforward.
In 1969, an ethnic riot erupted after an electoral setback for the multi-ethnic coalition government, dominated by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). This event sowed the seeds of fear that political division leads to violence. The New Economic Policy (NEP) was created to close the economic gap between ethnic groups.
The NEP introduced extensive pro-Malay measures, which locked in the ethnic majority Malay-Muslims’ support for the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional (BN), the National Front.
Since 1990, the Opposition has tried to dislodge UMNO-BN, by building a Two-Coalition System consisting of a multi-ethnic coalition that mirrors the BN.
Cyclical schisms in UMNO produced splinter parties, uniting older opposition parties that conventionally competed against UMNO and its non-Malay allies from the ethnic flanks.
Nevertheless, UMNO-BN survived the first three opposition united fronts. Each time, either Malay voters feared the loss of NEP privileges or minority voters that riots would follow regime change.
Thanks to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign front scandal, the fourth opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan (PH), the Alliance of Hope, finally ousted BN in the May 2018 election.
Power was transferred peacefully.
EMBED START Image {id: "editor_2"}
EMBED END Image {id: "editor_2"}
The election result effectively disintegrated BN, reducing it to UMNO, whose partner-parties representing the minority Chinese and Indians were almost electorally wiped out, and whose allies in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak left within months after its defeat.
Despite this, PH did not enjoy a long honeymoon. UMNO soon banded together with its former arch-rival, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia – the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, to accuse PH of betraying Malay-Muslim interests.
But it was an internal power struggle between PH’s top two leaders and two UMNO splinter parties they led that sounded its death knell. Mahathir Muhamad resigned as prime minister and pulled the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu), of which he was chairman, out of the PH coalition.
At the same time a dissident faction of the multi-ethnic People’s Justice Party (PKR) of Mahatir’s designated successor, Anwar Ibrahim, joined Bersatu.
Without a majority in parliament the PH government collapsed after just 22 months in power. Bersatu backed the party’s president, Muhyiddin Yassin, to become prime minister under a makeshift coalition of Bersatu, BN, PAS and several ex-BN regional parties. It resembled a restoration of the old BN government, enhanced with PAS.
This became Malaysia’s first mid-term change of federal government, and it invited greater instability than under PH. UMNO and Bersatu were soon at loggerheads over cabinet jobs and preparation for the next poll as they competed for the same Malay-Muslim nationalist constituency, while PAS sided with Bersatu to form a new coalition, the Perikatan Nasional (PN), or National Alliance.
To prevent his ouster by hostile UMNO parliamentarians, Muhyiddin suspended the Parliament for seven months through a proclamation of emergency in the name of fighting COVID-19. He was forced out after 17 months in power soon after lifting the emergency order, and replaced by his deputy from UMNO, Ismail Sabri.
Malaysia’s democratisation path, from one-party predominance to fluid multipartism, has alienated many citizens, confirming for many their fears of division, instability and uncertainty inherent in democratisation. Many crave a return to authoritarianism and certainty, even if that means a fair amount of corruption.
Even among those who craved democratisation, many are disillusioned because the Two-Coalition competition they dreamt of — two stable and moderate multi-ethnic blocs alternating power and providing checks and balances to each other — did not take hold.
Democracy has undoubtedly been in retreat since the reformist PH government collapsed.
Judicial independence is still questionable, as the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) controlled by Prime Minister is notoriously selective with prosecution and impunity. The return of UMNO to power has raised the fear that former Prime Minister Najib Razak and other kleptocrats may soon walk free. Parliament and elections were suspended in the name of COVID-19 for seven months to protect the Muhyiddin government from a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. Before that, the independent parliamentary speaker Mohamad Ariff was removed. His successor Azhar Harun takes a more deferential view of the executive. To buy the support of every possible parliamentarian including those from the opposition bench, more than 60 percent of government MPs were given ministerial jobs and most of the rest appointed as heads of state agencies and enterprise. Double standards in law enforcement became ever more rampant. Intolerance for dissenters and nonconformists rose.
However, the incessant political machinations and realignments have also brought about three key changes that would be unlikely, if not impossible, under a strong PH government, tempted to retain the winner-takes-all system and succeed BN as the new hegemonic coalition.
First, presiding over a de facto hung parliament, the Ismail Government entered a de facto “confidence and supply bill” (CSA) with the official opposition, PH, promising a series of reforms that would deconcentrate power and level the playing field. That includes parliamentary reform, equal constituency allocation for government and opposition lawmakers, a 10-year term-limit for prime minister, minister status for parliamentary opposition leader, and an anti-party hopping law.
Some of these changes are happening at the state level too.
After its recent landslide in the Malacca state election, BN promised to introduce the “constructive vote of no confidence” (CVNV) and a modified version of fixed-term legislature.
Second, as BN, PN, and regional parties compete against each other at the state level while sharing federal power, federal and state coalition politics are slowly de-aligned, paving the way for political decentralisation.
Third, as the open split of UMNO, Bersatu and PAS bankrupts the political myth of “Malay unity”, the toxic configuration of a monoethnic front of Malay parties taking on a multiethnic coalition (PH) is fading, allowing healthy division based on competence, integrity and policies to emerge.
Malaysia’s rocky road to democratisation offers at least three lessons.
Malaysia’s democratic consolidation will benefit from further professionalisation of politics to incentivise parties to compete on policy differences instead of identity mobilisation or patronage distribution, This requires electoral system change, deeper parliamentary reform, political finance reform and AGC and bureaucratic reform to ensure impartiality.
Decentralisation is required to deconcentrate power, introduce inter-state competition and increase local accountability, hence enabling healthier political competition and alignment.
Coalition-building is needed at the societal level so that major reforms, especially the identity-related ones, enjoy broad-based support to survive electoral politics.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Professor WONG Chin-Huat is a political scientist at Sunway University, Malaysia. His research interest covers political institutions and group conflicts. He declared no conflicts of interest in relation to this article. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on December 8, 2021 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/spooked-by-disunity-why-some-malaysians-prefer-autocracy-to-democracy/",
"author": "Chin-Huat Wong"
} |
1,364 | Sports tech a game changer - 360
Chris Bartlett
Published on February 2, 2023
Technology has been changing sport for more than a century. What athletes wear, the way they prepare, how matches are officiated and how spectators interact with their teams and favourite players has been continually altered by advances, from the first photo-finishes in horse racing (invented in 1948 to stop cheating but not used widely until the 1960s) to motion sensors and multiple cameras to catch an offside or foul in the 2022 men’s FIFA World Cup final.
With sport now a global business worth $600 billion annually, the stakes are high. Tech is constantly evolving as teams and individual athletes jostle for the edge that can mean the difference between winning and losing. These developments then spill over into consumer items and online apps for fans. The sports tech market is expected to double to $41.8 billion in just five years.
At the recent Australian Open, tech giant Infosys developed a bespoke “tennis platform” for the 2023 tournament for fans, players and tournament officials. One of the innovations was artificial intelligence-generated videos to provide players and coaches with game and competitor insights for post-match reviews and pre-game analysis.
AI is now predicting the outcome of football games, and goes into great detail. ChatGPT, an AI software, was used to predict the outcome of last Friday’s FA Cup clash between the two top teams in England: Manchester City and Arsenal. Using data from old team sheets and looking at the squads, the chatbot predicted Arsenal would beat City 2-1 with Eddie Nketiah scoring twice for Arsenal and Kevin De Bruyne for City. It also said Manchester’s Riyad Mahrez would miss a penalty. As it happens, City won 1-0 with a goal from Nathan Ake.
Technology is revolutionising sport by live-tracking performances, perfecting body movements, enhancing communication and is close to possibly eliminating injuries. Tech has become smaller and more reliable. Athletes wear sensors that convey real-time information. GPS can pinpoint motion. Smartphones keep everyone abreast of performance and can even warn coaches of potential injuries before they happen.
On the sidelines, cameras and virtual reality examine games from every conceivable angle and now provide match officials with the means to review decisions. Imagine the football World Cup without VAR, or cricket and tennis without Hawkeye. In football, referees will soon be communicating directly with fans to explain decisions, as already happens in America’s National Football League.
Meanwhile, data is more crucial to sport than ever. Coaches can crunch numbers to decide training schedules, tactics, or identify the next generation of talent. Data enhances the fan experience be it through fantasy games or gambling. Fans, who can already view events on their devices in the stadium, also have access to real time player data.
But is tech changing things for the better? If sport is fast becoming a technological arms race where those with the best access to latest advances will always end up winning, will it ever become predictable and therefore bland?
Whether all these developments enhance or detract from the purity of sporting competition is still open to debate. What is clear is that tech innovations in sport are here to stay and will continue to play a role as humans strive to be swifter, higher and stronger.
Globally, sport is worth around US$500 billion a year, or 1.5 percent of global GDP.
The global fantasy sports market will be worth $28.96 billion in 2023.
Wearable devices are associated with higher levels of physical activity.
Quote attributable to David Lloyd, Griffith University
“Optimising performance for athletes is one thing. Creating a digital twin this way has other potential applications, including for the military and the disabled. … With development, the technology has the potential to help quadriplegics and paraplegics ‘walk’ again.”
Quote attributable to Sebastian Uhrich and Kim Uhlendorf, German Sport University Cologne
“Part of fans’ trepidation to embrace a data-rich world of augmented reality is the risk of sterilising a pastime that is driven by emotion, for instance heated discussions among spectators might be cooled by the glut of statistics available in real-time.”
Quote attributable to Kjetil K. Haugen and Knut P. Heen, Molde University College
“European football has been in a competitive decline for years and it’s accelerating. Wealth disparity is one of the biggest issues. But the introduction of VAR threatens to hasten that decline by reducing the uncertainty of the outcome and giving already-dominant teams another advantage.”
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Editors Note: In the story “Game changer: technology in sport” sent at: 30/01/2023 11:23.
This is a corrected repeat. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on February 2, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/sports-tech-a-game-changer/",
"author": "Chris Bartlett"
} |
1,365 | Sports tech can keep our firefighters cool - 360
Hugh Fullagar
Published on December 6, 2023
Our sports heroes often use ice vests, slushies and misting fans to keep their cool during the heat of battle. Firefighters should have access to the same gear.
As you’re relaxing over the Christmas holidays, don’t forget our brave and resilient firefighters.
While most of the country is getting ready to head to the beach to enjoy a summer break, many fireys will be risking their lives battling the blazes that will inevitably break out.
It’s only the start of what promises to be a hot and dry Australian summer, with a heightened risk of bushfires thanks to El Niño.
But already there are news reports of firefighters being injured due to heat stroke suffered while they were battling fires in Perth in November.
Together with dealing with flame temperatures which can reach 1,100 degrees Celsius, on the job firefighters perform a number of demanding physical tasks while wearing protective clothing and gear, which results in extreme physical and psychological fatigue.
These conditions cause their body core temperatures to rise, which compromises their work output, blood pressure regulation, and can lead to heat illnesses.
Three-quarters of firefighters experience heat-related illness symptoms while on the job, such as headaches, sudden muscle cramps, dizziness, nausea, and fainting.
Heat stress also results in poorer cognitive functioning and decision-making, which further increases the risk of death.
Put simply, when the going gets tough, firefighting is an incredibly hot, physical and stressful job — one that needs plenty of resilience and recovery to help firefighters perform and stay safe during active duty.
Due to these risks, governments and fire agencies need to better understand how firefighters perceive the challenging tasks they perform, the conditions they face, and the recovery strategies required to help cool them down.
Australian research conducted in collaboration with local fire agencies, found 90 percent of firefighters typically rely on simple strategies to lower their core temperature, such as finding shade, drinking water and removing their helmets and jackets, as this is what is normally available to them on the fire ground.
However, firefighters wanted better access to more advanced methods to cool themselves — like those commonly seen in sport — such as ice packs or vests, cold slushies and cooling fans.
Often logistics and feasibility within these extreme environments are partly responsible for these more advanced cooling aids not being available to fireys while they’re on the job.
But a lack of advanced cooling methods being typically used or available on the fire ground, coupled with rising temperatures and increasing fire intensity, will likely lead to more firefighters suffering heat stress and increased threats to life as a result.
A follow-up study sought to find targeted solutions to help firefighters cool down more effectively.
On three occasions, 14 firefighters completed an 80-minute simulation in a hot-humid environment above 32 degrees Celsius, with cooling strategies used in the simulation co-designed with subject matter experts to consider what was most effective and practical for use at fire incidents.
When firefighters did what they normally would — drink water and remove pieces of clothing — their core temperature exceeded safe working limits, showing the danger of not having a robust enough cooling strategy.
Of the cooling strategies tested, the most effective method was a combination of consuming an ice slushie, placing their forearms in cold water, applying ice packs on other parts of their body and sitting in front of a misting fan.
While these have long been known to be effective cooling strategies for the general population, this research provides new insights for firefighters which can help guide the development of operational, educational and policy directives to aid their recovery.
The study showed cooling strategies help make firefighters’ jobs safer, but it didn’t find any changes in their physical or cognitive performance to help them make better decisions.
This could be due to the research being conducted in a laboratory setting rather than on the fire ground.
Future research needs to account for more environmental factors such as radiant heat, as well as more closely replicating different firefighter tasks and performance markers to better reflect the real-world dynamic physical and psychological stress faced by firefighters.
It also needs to be understood how best to educate our fireys on cooling solutions to overcome heat stress.
Whilst this is difficult and not without challenges, it is clear the learnings from this large body of research need to be put into practice through heat mitigation strategies around the country, along with using the data to better inform how heat and cooling policies are resourced.
Translating these findings into meaningful impacts for firefighters working on the ground is critical — as they are the ones putting their lives on the line to keep our community safe.
is a Professor in Sport Science at Reykjavik University in Iceland and an adjunct fellow at the University of Technology Sydney. His research interests are focused on evidence-based methods to improve performance and reduce injury in team sport and industry (physically demanding occupations). He has also worked with a number of professional sporting organisations throughout Europe and North America with a specific focus on better understanding the relationship between fatigue, recovery (most notably sleep), injury and training load.
The research was undertaken with financial assistance from the Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on December 6, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/sports-tech-can-keep-our-firefighters-cool/",
"author": "Hugh Fullagar"
} |
1,366 | Spotify’s data grab moves listeners to the music - 360
Fabio Morreale
Published on May 23, 2022
The power of platforms to suggest content we may like is a boon for convenience, but secrecy around data collection raises troubling questions.
Billions of people receive recommendations from digital platforms that impact on their daily offline life. What series they binge next, where they go on holiday, their next favourite song and the people they date are often shaped by the algorithmic curation of digital platforms.
Platforms need to know as much as possible about their users in order to make these recommendations. But the full extent of the data that companies collect and use is still largely a closely guarded secret.
Recent research has found that Spotify and Tinder are extracting an ever-growing amount of data from users. Through an analysis of successive versions of the platforms’ terms of use and privacy policies, the research shows the growing types of data taken: in Spotify’s case, photos, location, voice data, and personal information like payment details are being collected.
Both companies vaguely list the types of user data they collect – in Spotify’s case, data “for marketing, promotion, and advertising purposes”. But why would a platform like Spotify use voice data? On its website, the company lists several reasons for collecting various types of data, but these explanations, like many other platforms’, are vague and open to interpretation.
But even if the reasons were clearly stated, there is no way of knowing whether what we’re being told is true. The underlying code driving the algorithms is protected and platforms are under no legal obligation to share it.
In its 2021 policy, Spotify explicitly said that some user data is used in its recommendations. The company reserves the right to “make inferences” about users’ interests, and says “the content [users] view” is determined not just by their data but by Spotify’s commercial agreements with third parties. What Spotify markets as highly personalised, tailored content is influenced by factors outside users’ listening data, including agreements with artists and labels.
This two-pronged approach is a pincer movement: an exploitative strategy that simultaneously attacks user privacy and rights while defining their tastes, choices and identity. The first movement is about extracting as much data and information from users as possible. Once this data is processed, the second movement is about conditioning users’ online and offline behaviours.
The opaque way in which digital platforms collect and use user data demonstrates how power can be enacted through technology by monitoring, guiding and adjusting behaviours in subtle ways.
In the unregulated corners of cyberspace, digital platforms are not obliged to share their functionalities.
Relatively free of legal restrictions, companies that collect data consolidate their power to do so in a few ways. Companies unilaterally decide upon their own terms and conditions and privacy policies, and these can be changed at any time.
EMBED START Image {id: "editor_3"}
EMBED END Image {id: "editor_3"}
Software updates can create new norms for using the app. For example, in 2019 Spotify drastically changed the user interface so that users had less control over the music they could listen to. Users were told the update was “fixing performance issues”, but the new version made changes that removed features, reducing users’ ability to navigate their libraries.
Regulatory intervention may be the only viable solution to initiating or restoring a more democratic cyberspace. The European Union is already taking steps in this direction. On 22 March 2022, the European Parliament and Council approved a Digital Services Act (DSA) to “create a safe and accountable online environment”.
The DSA touches upon the need for platforms to be held to account for their societal impact, outlining a number of obligations for digital platforms that seek to operate in Europe, such as transparent reporting, measures against abuse, and giving users the choice to opt out of recommendations based on profiling.
The DSA is one move towards more universal mechanisms that circumvent the secrecy around the operation of powerful digital platforms and the companies behind them. As more users know how much data is collected from them and start questioning why and how it is used, lack of transparency from companies will become less likely to be accepted.
Dr Fabio Morreale is a Senior Lecturer at Waipapa Taumata Rau (The University of Auckland). He has a PhD in computer science and his current research is focused on investigating the cultural, political and ethical impact of artificial intelligence in the creative arts.
Dr Morreale declared no conflicts of interest in relation to this article.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Editors Note: In the story “Platforms and power” sent at: 16/05/2022 12:00.
This is a corrected repeat, adding some external hyperlinks that were originally intended to be included. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on May 23, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/spotifys-data-grab-moves-listeners-to-the-music/",
"author": "Fabio Morreale"
} |
1,367 | Sprawling Kolkata's tall order for a sustainable future - 360
Mahalaya Chatterjee
Published on January 12, 2023
Colonial planning was about attracting people to Kolkata, post-colonial planning is more about crisis management.
In many ways, Kolkata is a victim of its own success.
Such has been population growth in India’s ‘first city’ since colonial times that where to house people has been a perennial problem. It is now vital for Kolkata’s 15 million residents that planning for future growth takes into account the threat of climate change.
The city has spread so far from its original boundaries and chewed up so much surrounding land that the only way to go now is up. That is, high-rise.
Kolkata’s growth was probably inevitable.
From the 16th century, European traders (starting with the Portuguese, followed by the Danes, Dutch, French and the British) were attracted to the region by trade. They established offices and works to transact with local agents. These settlements developed into towns over the next two centuries.
The city really took off whenthe British defeated the nawab of Bengal in 1757 and made Calcutta (as it was then known) their capital, a status it enjoyed up to 1911. The city of Kolkata started with its nucleus in the fort beside the River Hooghly and the port. The port was the hub of mercantile prosperity. It led to the development of transportation with the construction of new waterways and roads.
The first railway line opened in 1854 with the railway station at Howrah. Within 50 years, the whole region, stretching about 60km from north to south (Bansberia to Uluberia in the west bank and Kanchrapara to Budge Budge on the east bank), was dotted with jute, metal processing, engineering and paper factories and railway workshops. These factories attracted people from the neighbouring districts and provinces.
These industrial towns shaped land use in the area. The location of factories was decided by the cheapest means of transport available. Residential segregation followed a new industrial hierarchy, juxtaposed by old indigenous caste-based mohallas (neighbourhoods) and the new wealthy landed gentry.
Calcutta emerged as an administrative and trading town. The port in the western part had its own infrastructure with warehouses along the river. The largest wholesale market was in the northern part of the city while government activities and the Europeans’ homes were confined to the centre. The northern part was native habitation with narrow lanes. The thoroughfares had commercial establishments, recreational establishments, educational and medical institutions.
The area ‘South of Park Street’ started to develop in the late 18th century. It had wider roads and was mainly inhabited by the newly-emerging educated, salaried and professional class. Not only Bengali but others as well. The establishment of the Calcutta Improvement Trust in 1911 led to the expansion of the city to the east and the south and renewal of the central part of the city following Patrick Geddes’s recommendation.
The story of Calcutta is not complete without mentioning its slums. These single-storey tenements were built by a group of intermediaries on the land of local landlords. They were initially home to the large contingents of domestic workers but were later rented to other migrant workers.
With Indian independence in 1947 came the partition of India. Bengal was one of the two states (with Punjab) that was split. The region faced a massive influx of refugees from what became East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The refugees occupied any available empty land in and around the city, especially in its south and east. Most of the vacant mansions of the wealthy class (absentee landlords) were forcefully occupied. This brought the biggest transformation of the city and its suburbs.
The existing urban infrastructure became inadequate. The Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation was formed in 1958 with active technical and financial support of the Ford Foundation. It formally delineated the Calcutta Metropolitan District as the region of influence in Calcutta. The Metropolitan Planning Organisation published a Basic Development Plan (1966-86) for the metropolitan district. It was succeeded by the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority.
Meanwhile, the city was suffering from acute shortage of residential space. The rental market was almost frozen with the Rent Control Act. The population started to spread to neighbouring municipalities. The growth rate of some of these towns exceeded 100 percent in the 1970s. Two planned townships of Kalyani and Bidhannagar emerged in the 1960s and the 1970s to relieve pressure on the main city of Kolkata. Kalyani failed to decongest Kolkata mainly because of the commuting distance. Bidhannagar was more successful as it not only attracted a residential population but also a major section of the government offices to its core.
The development authority improved the habitability of the region. With the change of guard in 1977, when a letfist alliance government came to power in the state, the development authority became more democratic in character with wider representation of councillors from various municipalities. The Town and Country Planning Act came into being in 1979. The Calcutta Metropolitan District was changed to Kolkata Metropolitan Area, and became the main instrument to check unplanned development.
Even with such planning and control efforts, there was an immense change in the land-use and land cover of the area because of economic changes. This has led to the emergence of many new “census towns” (defined as settlements with a population of more than 5,000, density more than 1,000 per square kilometre and 75 percent of the male working population engaged in non-agricultural occupations).
A recent study has shown that about 56 percent of the metropolitan area is built-up. Over a period of only five years (2010-15), the built-up area in Kolkata increased by 9.81 per cent at the cost of decline of vegetation (3.48), water bodies (0.04) and agricultural land (6.38).
The easy availability of home loans made it easier for people to purchase apartments. While big real-estate companies eyed greenfield projects on the outskirts of the city and the recycling of industrial land in smaller towns, the smaller ‘promoters’ went for renewing older properties within the cities. The slum lands were protected by the Thika Tenancy Act, but recent changes may lead to dense vertical development very soon. Another noticeable change is the transformation of old residential properties for commercial use — the front of the property is converted to a shop or office while the rear portion continues as a private residence. This adds to the value of the property and helps in its maintenance.
Kolkata and other cities in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area have been transformed into mega service centres. There are also numerous small factories within localities but they are difficult to identify because of a mixed land-use pattern. The demand for homes has increased because of easy and cost-effective access to many facilities. This is reflected in the increase in built-up area at the cost of vacant spaces and wetlands.
Colonial planning aimed to attract more people to Kolkata and adjoining areas. However, post-colonial planning seems more about crisis management in a near-stagnant economy.
As recent cyclones from the Bay of Bengal have underlined, Kolkata is also vulnerable to climate change. The immediate need is for proactive planning and monitoring so the growth of unplanned built-up areas can be controlled. Saving and preserving wetland and vegetation cover has to be a priority. To do that, vertical growth with proper infrastructure focused on compact growth is the only way out.
is Professor, Department of Economics, Calcutta University.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on January 12, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/sprawling-kolkatas-tall-order-for-a-sustainable-future/",
"author": "Mahalaya Chatterjee"
} |
1,368 | State elections will shape India’s mood for 2024 - 360
Bharat Bhushan
Published on November 27, 2023
The elections in five states will be seen as a proving ground for campaign strategies ahead of next year’s national vote.
The legislative elections in five states of India – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram – are the last set of polls before the general election scheduled for April 2024.
While the results of the general election do not always match the state elections, their outcome will nevertheless have a psychological impact on Indian political parties and Indian voters.
These elections will also help the parties finalise their agendas for 2024 by fine-tuning which issues work or don’t work with voters.
Since the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has projected Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the local leaders from the election-going states, political observers will keenly watch whether his electoral magic – a mix of demagoguery and ideological rhetoric – is still effective.
That it has a government ruling at the Centre is an advantage for the BJP, whose campaign centres around its unapologetic Hindu nationalism, plus its welfare schemes and ‘freebies’. All of these – the free food distribution scheme for the poor, the subsidised cooking gas cylinders, the cash doles to women and the poor – are presented as Modi’s personal largesse.
The Congress party’s campaign promises a caste census, which would guide the distribution of entitlements in proportion to a caste’s size in the population. The party also offers competitive freebies as ‘guarantees’ similar to the BJP, as well as farm loan waivers and unemployment dole for youth.
The promise of returning to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) is also a key campaign plank of the Congress. The OPS guaranteed half the last basic salary drawn as pension for government employees, unlike the entirely employee-financed and purely voluntary New Pension Scheme, which was introduced by a BJP government at the Centre in 2003.
These populist welfare measures are bound to affect the already precarious finances of the election-going states, irrespective of which party comes to power. They will also have a knock-on effect on the finances of the Central government. However, none of the political parties seem concerned by this reality.
The state elections have been highly centralised for the BJP, with Modi and his Home Minister Amit Shah having the final say on candidate selection to the campaign agenda in each state. The BJP’s relegation of state leaders to the background is seen by many as an unnecessary risk – should the party lose in these states, Modi will have to take the blame. Victory, no doubt, will go only to Modi’s account.
Just as the state elections can prove a turning point for the BJP, they are also an acid test for the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Gandhi dynasty that rules the Congress party. His image and his political vision seem to have gained considerably from his 146-day, 4,080km ‘walkathon’ across the country.
After the Congress victory in the state of Karnataka in May this year, Gandhi seems supercharged to take on the BJP’s “divisive politics”. The party organisation also seems more confident after holding internal elections and rebooting its election machinery.
A win in a majority of these states will act as a great pick-me-up for the party and boost Gandhi’s confidence in working with a united opposition against Modi in the 2024 general election. A defeat would result in renewed doubts about his ability to lead the party to electoral victory.
The results to be announced on 3 December, therefore, will critically shape the mood of the nation in the run-up to the general election.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Editors Note: In the story “India state elections” sent at: 23/11/2023 13:20.
This is a corrected repeat. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on November 27, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/state-elections-will-shape-indias-mood-for-2024/",
"author": "Bharat Bhushan"
} |
1,369 | Staying connected on social media helps and hinders young people - 360
Piya Srinivasan, James Goldie
Published on October 9, 2023
How can today’s youth best navigate the mental health challenges posed by screens and social media?
World Mental Health Day is 10 October. With an entire generation coming of age in a world where interacting digitally is the default option, the time is right to ask how social media impacts the mental health of young adults.
The research is split on social media’s effects.
On one hand, teenagers report a range of benefits from social media use, including providing opportunities for personal expression and social support, especially among racial, ethnic and sexual minorities. Social media is also a gateway to promote mental health literacy among young people.
On the flip side, its use can also be linked with low self-worth, fear of missing out, body image issues, depression and anxiety. Excessive social media use is strongly linked to addictive behaviours and can also perpetuate eco-anxiety.
What should caregivers, educators and young people themselves keep in mind while navigating the labyrinths of social media? How can young people use it best?
With a focus on the Indo-Pacific region, which has some of the highest numbers of social media users in the world, 360info’s special report on untangles the benefits, risks and challenges in making social media better for young people and their mental well-being.
If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, visit https://findahelpline.com/i/iasp.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Editors Note: In the story “Young minds on screens” sent at: 05/10/2023 07:10.
This is a corrected repeat. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on October 9, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/staying-connected-on-social-media-helps-and-hinders-young-people/",
"author": "Piya Srinivasan, James Goldie"
} |
1,370 | Stigma in drug research holding back new therapies - 360
Malcolm Hopwood
Published on October 11, 2022
Therapy is turning to drugs previously known for being illicit party substances. But there’s no reason to abandon proper trials.
A range of new therapies for mental illness were previously considered unthinkable — party drugs including ketamine, medicinal cannabis and psychedelics like MDMA, psilocybin and DMT.
With mental health disorders a growing cause of disability in our communities, the need is acute. But the question is whether the desire for new approaches will see shortcuts from the usual process of trialling and regulating drugs.
All medicines require careful examination of efficacy and safety prior to being used publicly. A healthy balance between caution and need canavoid missing important opportunities for new treatments. A process that enables scientists to investigate medicines safely needs a structured approach supported by research bodies and national regulators toallow for the development of new therapies whilst safeguarding patients.
Typically this process involves multiple phases of clinical trials before wide release. These trials will initially demonstrate safety, establish efficacy, dosing and place in therapy. All trials will need ethical approval, informed consent and independent analysis before regulators would consider broad approval. Early consultation between researchers and regulators may be useful in establishing what trials are needed to establish the appropriate place in therapy and safety.
Party drugs have been around for decades, and some psychedelics have been around for centuries – they are not new. But their use in clinical practice is. As therapy, they still require evaluation with clear ethical frameworks and standard research practice.
Each of these new therapies has a proposed rationale for its utility. Ketamine and its molecular sister esketamine increase the effect of glutamate, the most widespread natural chemical stimulant in the brain. Cannabis binds to a series of receptors for its active ingredients, tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol existent in the brain. Psychedelics are known to act on multiple brain chemistry systems which can create altered states of the mind. In psychotherapy, this has been harnessed to achieve mental breakthroughs.
The availability of medicinal cannabis is an example of the need for careful evaluation before releasing to the open market. Medicinal cannabis has become more widely available based on evidence supporting its use in chronic pain and some forms of severe epilepsy. But it has also been touted as a treatment for a range of mental health conditions despite little quality evidence.
Careful research is beginning to show that cannabidiol, one of the components of cannabis, may have benefits for anxiety.But the production of medicinal cannabis in Australia, and its regulation, are inconsistent. It appears not to be subject to the same regulations of promotion as traditional medicines produced by large pharmaceutical companies and must abide by strict national regulations, particularly on claims of its medicinal benefits. It’s not clear why these compounds should be treated differently and their high promotion has created a risk that ineffective treatments will be trialled, and more effective ones delayed. That is, a compound with inadequate evidence that may not be efficacious will be used by an individual first in preference to established treatments with known efficacy. Delayed treatment of mental illness is generally seen as associated with worse outcomes.
The use and regulation of ketamine and psychedelics for medical purposes are also complex.The misuse of LSD in some pockets of mental health care in the 1960s has established a stigma about the potential for substance abuse.This perception has been difficult to correct even with evidence from trials showing the risks of abuse are very low, especially in carefully monitored environments.
As a researcher these challenges create tension around involvement in this area; do I want my name or reputation associated with an area that may bring criticism and potentially be difficult to fund?
This area can also easily be confused with the purported benefits of psychedelics in enhancing normal thinking and creativity. It’s the contemporary equivalent of 1960s psychologist Timothy Leary’s famous phrase “turn on, tune in, drop out”. The main purpose of research should focus on its treatment abilities, looking at its applications and whether it’s safe and effective.
The history of medicine, including mental health, is replete with examples where treatments have been hastily greeted and trumpeted before careful evaluation has occurred with significant human cost, such as the historical use of insulin coma, malarial therapy in mental health or thalidomide in more recent medical care.
And while some harbour hopes that such long-established drugs will be free of the conflicts of interest often alleged of large traditional pharmaceutical companies, this is not automatically valid. All pharmacological health treatments are invented, produced and marketed by someone who is likely to have personal and financial interest in its widespread use.
Stigma in all its forms has long surrounded mental illness and its treatments. A great deal of evidence tells usthat stigma leads to a risk of poor practice and further suffering. In this area, the stigma of both mental illness and research into illicit drugs threatens to impede research into whether or not these drugs have uses in the treatment of mental health.
The emphasis is to place value on mental health research long given to other areas of health research, such as oncology. Research into new therapies for mental health needs to be funded in proportion to the disability that mental illness causes — whether or not they once party drugs. And only a good process will enable us to find the therapies we sorely need.
Malcolm Hopwood is a Professor at the University of Melbourne. He is one of Australia’s leading researchers in translational research in mood and anxiety disorders. He leads a research team based at the Albert Road Clinic, a private psychiatric hospital in Melbourne.
He declares no conflict of interest.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on October 11, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/stigma-in-drug-research-holding-back-new-therapies/",
"author": "Malcolm Hopwood"
} |
1,371 | Stopping child marriage starts with family. - 360
Pinky Saptandari
Published on April 6, 2023
Child marriage hit high levels in some Indonesian provinces during COVID-19. Families hold the key to ending it.
For Kiki Maharani, marrying young was the result of peer pressure in Madura, East Java. She married when she was 17 and her husband was 20 years old.
Kiki, now 28, blames lower levels of education and parents scared their grandchildren will be born out of wedlock for the prevalence of this practice. Indeed, many parts of Indonesia have similartraditions, which is why the country has the second highestincidence of underage marriage in Southeast Asia.
Girls who marry underage are denied an education and are prone to domestic violence and poverty. The practice also has significant economic costs: in 2020, UNICEF Indonesiapublished data showing child marriage cost 1.7 percent of Indonesia’s GDP.
The legal age for marriage in Indonesia is 19but couples wanting to marry younger can apply to religious courts for a marriage dispensation, which allows them to legally marry younger. Data shows the number of these dispensations is increasing, and in 10 Indonesian provinces the average age of marriage is 18 for males and 15 for females.
Child marriage increased across the Asia Pacific region during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indonesia has the second highest rate of child marriage among ASEAN nations and seventh highest worldwide.
Underage marriage is particularly prevalent in East Java, which has the highest number of marriage dispensations. In 2022, there were 15,337 applicants for marriage under the age of consent. This contrasts with the rest of Indonesia, where the number of marriage dispensationdecreased from 61,449 to 50,673 between 2021 and 2022.
One of the main reasons for religious dispensations being granted for underage marriages is pregnancy out of wedlock, with 34 percent being granted for this reason. Families see marriage as the easiest way to cover up the shame and dishonour surrounding pregnancies out of wedlock.
This is often supported by religious officialswho grant dispensations, who believe that if the couples are not quickly married, they are likely to violate religious norms and commit adultery. This argument has become a commonlegal loophole, which in turn perpetuates the increase in underage marriages.
The solution to the issue starts in the family home.
Parents often use the excuse that early marriage is a way to ease the economic burden on their families. Low awareness of the law and strong cultural traditions also mean underage marriage is not seen as a problem, but a solution.
Data developed by Susenas (2015-2022 shows those who married young were less likely to have graduated from elementary school. The numbers were even lower for junior high school and senior high school. Only a little over one percent of those married underage had graduated from college.
In 2012, 5.4 percent of Indonesian women between 20-24 years reported they were married prior to turning 18, and two percent reported they were married by 15.
The research suggests high levels of child marriage contribute to poverty in certain areas with a lack of access to healthcare and education making it difficult to achieve improvements in living standards. High rates of maternal and infant mortality, poverty and poor employment options are some of the problems still prevalent in many areas.
In an attempt to address the high levels of child marriage, East Java launched the Family Planning and Population Development Program (KKBPK) in 2015 to try to promote family resilience and welfare, with attention to gender equality, female empowerment and the protection and development of children.
In Malang, the high divorce rate is closely linked to the high number of child marriages, especially among migrant workers. In response, family development programs to achieve resilience and welfare have been implemented. Another regency in East Java, Pacitan, is working to address child marriage with the head of regency urging all agenciesto work to decrease the number of child marriages in their area. These programmes have gone some way to lowering poverty although the number of poor people is still high.
Family is central to any effort to curb child marriage. Strengthening the welfare and resilience of communities begins at the family level. Family units play an important role in building or driving a change in mindset, attitudes and behaviour of the community. When communities are responsive to family development, this awareness can expand to other perspectives such as human rights, gender equality, empowerment and protection of women and the fulfilment of rights and protection of children.
Pinky Saptandari is a lecturer in Anthropology Department of Social Science Faculty University of Airlangga (UNAIR), East Java, Indonesia. Her research interests are in Anthropology of Health and Anthropology of Gender and Feminism. She is the director of the African Study Centre in UNAIR. She declares she has no conflict of interest and did not receive specific funds.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Editors Note: In the story “Child marriage” sent at: 03/04/2023 12:12.
This is a corrected repeat. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on April 6, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/stopping-child-marriage-starts-with-family/",
"author": "Pinky Saptandari"
} |
1,372 | Streamlining Indonesia’s pandemic warnings - 360
Iwan Ariawan
Published on April 6, 2022
Indonesia’s health systems work well at local level but cannot provide adequate nationwide pandemic warnings. For those, a new system is needed.
Indonesia is home to more than a quarter of a million people, spread across an archipelago made up of thousands of islands. This geographical reality is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it makes it very difficult to ensure every citizen gets equal access to health services. On the other, during an epidemic the government can keep the disease from spreading throughout the archipelago – if it has the right early-warning system
Three things are essential for a pandemic warning system to work well: timely recording and reporting of symptoms; accurate diagnoses, supported by swift examination and confirmation of cases; and an efficient disease-tracing system.
Indonesia has several early warning systems. The Early Warning and Response System (EWARS) tracks 23 types of infectious disease, such as pneumonia and influenza-like iIllnesses, that can become epidemics or outbreaks. It gets its data from weekly puskesmas (community health centre) reports. To detect increasing cases, EWARS draws on a disease diagnosis and response algorithm and an algorithm for outbreak response.
However, a weekly report cannot flag outbreaks quickly, so in 2020 the Ministry of Health added an event-based surveillance feature intended to detect significant cases and report them to the government for immediate response. However, EWARS did not detect COVID-19 as soon as it should have. Another drawback is that EWARS is not fully linked with the hospital and laboratory information system.
Indonesia has numerous health information systems at a central and subnational level. In 2021 research company Reconstra undertook internet search mapping that identified at least 155 systems at central level. The Ministry of Health identified hundreds of systems, among them at least 77 at puskesmas level and 55 at hospital level.
To further complicate the picture, Indonesia’s decentralised system of governance allows regions to modify health systems to best suit local needs.
This large, fragmented health information system imposes an enormous workload on health workers at clinics and program managers in subnational offices. Data-entry personnel are scarce in Indonesia, so health staff are often required to enter data as part of their work.
Most health workers and program managers have multiple duties, from delivering services such as vaccination to administrative tasks such as budget paperwork to program implementation. Previous reviews have highlighted an urgent need for administrative staff trained specifically for the health information system.
Though there is no process for providing feedback on the speed and accuracy of recording and reporting, the overwhelming tasks of health workers and management staff appear to affect the timeliness and accuracy of the data-entry process. Data validation and verification are also suboptimal because program managers have a great deal of other work. Varied approaches to data capture also create difficulties. For instance, periodical disease prevalence is tracked by a three-year basic health survey, but the measles-rubella immunisation campaign used separate daily SMS-based reporting.
In this context, developing a new pandemic warning system will face many challenges. The new system will require political buy-in, appropriate infrastructure and capacity development of human resources. At transition, there must be no period when monitoring ceases. On the other hand, it will take years of effort, as well as enormous resources and full support from all programs, to integrate the existing systems or make them interoperable.
The new system needs to connect the most important pieces of the puzzle: examination of patients, treatment of patients and tracing disease spread. The government can assign responsibility for each piece. For example, health workers can focus on disease management and epidemiologists can assist the tracing system. To ease the burden on the government system, some processes can be completed in conjunction with other parties – for example, mass vaccinations can be carried out by doctors or health workers who do not work in government institutions.
Indonesia’s growing economy in the past decade has boosted urbanisation, subnational connectivity and population mobility, which all increase the potential for future outbreaks. Before the pandemic, Indonesia was establishing the world’s biggest single-payer health insurance scheme, eventually achieving close to universal health coverage. In recent decades, the country has also increased average life expectancy, reduced infant mortality and launched better family planning initiatives that have halved the fertility rate.
COVID-19 may be threatening some of these achievements. As the country recovers, Indonesia needs to allocate resources to building a better warning system for future pandemics.
Iwan Ariawan is a lecturer-researcher at the Public Health Research Centre, University of Indonesia. His work focuses on statistical modelling, survey design and analysis. He has received funding from DFAT Australia.
He is also the director and senior researcher of Jakarta-based independent company Reconstra Utama Integra, where Cut Novianti Rachmi and Hafizah Jusril also work as researchers. Reconstra specialises in research, consulting and training in health, with a focus on public health. Reconstra recently supported an Australia–Indonesia Health Security Partnership with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on mapping surveillance systems and integrated health system information. The project is currently in progress and results are not yet published.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Editors Note: In the story “Pandemic warning systems” sent at: 06/04/2022 13:01.
This is a corrected repeat. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on April 6, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/streamlining-indonesias-pandemic-warnings/",
"author": "Iwan Ariawan"
} |
1,373 | Strengthening cybersecurity frameworks remains a challenge - 360
Piya Srinivasan
Published on December 13, 2023
Laws and policies must keep up with ever-evolving cyber threats to personal privacy and national security.
More than half of humanity lives its life online. So it’s no surprise that cybersecurity is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. The Asia-Pacific region has reported a rapid increase in cyberattacks compared with its global counterparts.
A look around the world shows repeated instances of cybersecurity breaches. The fear of a data breach in the lead-up to Indonesia’s 2024 elections threatens to compromise citizens’ trust in their integrity. India is the second most-affected country in the world for breaches of data brokers, who collect data on individuals and companies. The most recent medical data breach compromised the identities of more than 800 million Indians.
The economic fallout of cybercrime is expected to cross USD$23 trillion in 2027. Malware has made it easier for bad actors to destabilise whole economies and endanger security infrastructure. Recent reports of a state-sponsored malware attack at the UK’s nuclear waste site Sellafield have raised serious national security concerns.
Accelerated digital transformation without adequate network and data security has exposed glaring vulnerabilities across many sectors. Technology is often many steps ahead of regulatory capacities of countries to monitor and secure data and protect user identities. The emergence of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT has given rise to modified and malicious versions that pose risks to individuals and businesses by compromising access to their systems.
As if this weren’t enough cause for alarm, the generational shift to online lives and the pervasiveness of social media have desensitised many people to the risks involved in sharing personal information online or clicking on a friendly-looking link.
Cyberattacks and the misuse of data have wide-ranging implications. And laws and policies are struggling to keep up with the rapid ascent of AI.
In the face of these challenges, individuals need ways to protect their data and identities from being exploited by governments, corporations and hackers. Institutions and nations need to strengthen their legal and technical abilities to prevent data breaches and cybercrimes. And a balance has to be struck between citizens’ privacy and the state’s mandate to protect people’s security.
Experts from across the region weigh in for 360info’s special report on the many threats and solutions that can help to secure cyberspace.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™ | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on December 13, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/strengthening-cybersecurity-frameworks-remains-a-global-challenge/",
"author": "Piya Srinivasan"
} |
1,374 | Striking the 'right balance' key to solving consultancy conundrum - 360
Andrew Podger
Published on August 17, 2023
The use of consultants in the public service has gone too far, but reform shouldn’t wind back the clock for answers. The challenge is to get the balance right.
There was a time when Australia’s public service essentially ran the national government’s functions on its own.
In the 1970s, the public service had a workforce of over 250,000. There were nowhere near as many managers as there are today and, while university degrees were rare, the technical skillset was far broader.
Fifty years later, the service is very different.
The workforce is 40 percent smaller despite Australia’s population almost doubling, the proportion of senior positions has increased dramatically and a new graduate workforce has replaced the former ranks of people with different technical skills.
Much of the transformation has been driven by technological change, but policies towards the public service have also changed dramatically.
To keep the country running today, governments rely on external contractors, consultants and labour hire. Billions of taxpayer dollars are involved and serious questions are emerging about the value for money involved with a series of scandals about the performance of contractors and consultants and about how they won contracts.
The time is ripe for rebalancing – giving back to the public service some of the control it has had taken away.
The Australian Public Service today compared to 50 years ago is much smaller, much more top-heavy, more inclusive particularly in terms of gender, but far less diverse in its skill sets and the functions it performs.
‘Externalisation’ is one of three major themes in public service developments from the 1980s in Anglophone countries, along with ‘politicisation’ and ‘managerialism’.
In Australia, early signs of some of these themes emerged with the Coombs Royal Commission of 1976 and its themes of increasing responsiveness to the elected government, increased efficiency and effectiveness and increased representativeness and more open interaction with the Australian public.
The first big step was with the commercialisation of Australia Post and Telecom initiated by the Whitlam Government and implemented under the Fraser Government.
Almost half (45 percent) of the APS had been employed in the Postmaster General’s (PMG’s) department, and were then made employees of the new statutory corporations.
The first stages of New Public Management (NPM) in the 1980s focused on better ‘management for results’ with the managerialist agenda including a form of program budgeting based on clear program objectives and performance targets and devolution of management authority subject to accountability for performance.
Gradually these reforms embraced competition as managers, looking to improve efficiency and performance, began to test markets for various corporate services. Centralised administrative services such as property, construction and cars were turned into businesses and subject to competition.
Defence commercialised its aircraft and shipbuilding and maintenance businesses, along with munitions and clothing manufacturing, and then began its commercial services program of reform to reduce the costs of support services such as equipment maintenance, supply depots and canteens. Most departments explored the contracting out of various corporate services such as payroll.
With the Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG) National Competition Policy in the early 1990s, a wider range of utilities and services were subject to competition and increasingly the option of privatisation was pursued.
The Commonwealth Employment Service was replaced by a program of employment services purchased by the Employment Department and delivered by for-profit and not-for-profit providers. Competitive tenders focused on achieving specified employment outcomes.
Until then, the Australian approach towards New Public Management is best described as ‘pragmatic’ rather than ideological, each incremental development focused on improving efficiency and effectiveness.
Legitimate questions can be raised about the assumptions involved and the improvements achieved, but the agenda was being promoted by senior bureaucrats as much as by political leaders.
Ideology began to play a more explicit part from the late 1990s, though much of the agenda was still focused on genuine efficiency gains.
Ideology was apparent, for example, in the mandating of IT contracting in the late 1990s rather than allowing managers to determine when and where contracting offered efficiency gains.
A ‘Yellow Pages’ approach was also suggested, where any activities that private businesses revealed in the Yellow Pages that they deliver should not be undertaken by government itself but outsourced instead.
The imposition of staff ceilings in 2014, in addition to budget caps on administrative expenses, also forced some agencies to contract out activities even when there was no value-for-money advantage.
By this time, governments on both sides had also become attracted to the apparent (political) advantages of external consultants including both the appearance of a greater degree of independence of government and the public service and the reality of close control to deliver acceptable advice.
The ‘politicisation’ agenda was also downgrading the importance of strategic policy advice from the public service and giving priority to external policy advice including through ministerial advisers and consultants subject to their close influence.
Data on the scale of externalisation in the earlier periods are not readily available, but the reduction in fulltime APS employees reveals the dramatic impact of the commercialisation of PMG in the mid-1970s and suggests another significant impact over the 1990s.
While APS employment grew over the following decade, that growth was in line with overall population and employment growth in Australia. There has subsequently been a further decline in APS employment, particularly relative to total employment.
An Audit of Employment by the Finance Department and APS Commission in 2023 (Australian Government 2023) estimated that external labour paid for by APS departments and agencies in 2021-22 amounted to 53,911 (FTE), compared to the actual APS staffing of 144,271 (ASL).
Fifty-two percent of these were outsourced service providers (mostly involved with Defence), 33.7 percent were contractors, 12.5 percent were labour hire and 1.8 percent consultants. IT and digital solutions was the job family with the largest expenditure, representing 32 percent of the external FTE and 43 percent of the expenditure.
This does not reveal the growth in external labour.
It is likely that Defence, which has 76 percent of the total external labour, has always used external labour in its capital procurement and, since the mid-1990s, has also done so in its supply activities. Other departments are unlikely to have used much external labour until the 1990s.
There is some data on the increased use of consultants.
ANAO reported in early 2023 that the value of consultancy-related contracts increased from around AUD$350 million in 2012-13 to nearly AUD$900 million in 2021-22.
It appears the definitions may have changed as in its 2020 report it referred to growth from under AUD$400 million to over AUD$1.2 billion in the decade to 2018-19.
A separate empirical analysis found spending on consultants in 2017 was 5.5 times that in 1995-96.
There is evidence of improvements in efficiency over the early reform period and there remains political and bureaucratic support to maintain the broad management framework that allows externalisation where it adds value.
Serious questions have emerged, however, about the scale and management of externalisation and its impact on public service capability. Among these is whether the APS has retained sufficient capability to be an informed purchaser of external support, with the risk of not obtaining value for money even where external support may be warranted.
A series of reports and reviews have found that both politicisation and externalisation have gone too far.
The APS of the early 1970s was too independent and too insular, and it needed to be more responsive to the elected government, more open in its dealings with the public and more exposed to competitive pressures and external expertise and views.
But the scale of increased political control and use of external labour over the last three decades has adversely affected the capability and performance of the APS, and led to some other fallings.
The adverse impact on APS capability has been revealed in the Moran Report, subsequent capability reviews, the Thodey Report and a 2021 Senate Inquiry. Areas of concern identified are:
Important recommendations have been made to address both politicisation and externalisation concerns, the latter including:
The use of long-term contractors sitting beside APS employees doing similar ongoing work (which it seems is not unusual) also raises a fundamental Constitutional issue.
If they are in effect Commonwealth employees, they should be employed under powers authorised by the Parliament such as the Public Service Act. That might also make them subject to legislated codes of conduct.
The Morrison Government endorsed the development of ‘professions streams’ and established a Finance Department centre of excellence on procurement, referring to this in responding to the Thodey recommendation for improved ‘commissioning’.
But it rejected the other Thodey recommendations to remove public service staffing caps and to reduce reliance on external consultants, contractors and labour hire.
The Albanese Government moved swiftly to remove the staffing caps and, in its first two budgets, to reduce expenditure on consultants, contractors and labour hire.
It also commissioned the Audit of Employment by Finance and the APS Commission as an important step towards better reporting on external labour.
The use of labour hire and contractors has been reduced over the last year, but it will take time for the APS to rebuild capability so that it can fully take up the slack.
Replacement of labour hire by APS employees, including non-ongoing employees, should not present a major challenge and should ensure better trained and better motivated staff in service delivery areas such as Services Australia and Veterans Affairs.
Replacing highly skilled contractors, however, will require the APS to develop appropriate classification and remuneration arrangements that attract, develop and retain the skills required.
Contracting for particular services may still offer value for money, but a cadre of internal experts is critical to identify when that is appropriate and to manage the process well.
Revelations through the current Senate Committee inquiry suggest there also remain serious issues about the way consultants are used and about the management of conflicts of interest. Among the disciplines needed when contracting consultants are:
While there is no doubt that the use of external labour has gone too far, it would be wrong to suggest that we should wind back the clock to a world when the APS ran everything itself without the use of external organisations and labour.
The challenge is to get the balance right.
The APS needs to retain inside a wide range of specialist skills, complementing generalist administrative and policy analysis skills.
It needs those specialist skills to perform its very wide range of functions, and to have the expertise to be an informed purchaser when it does draw on external support. And there is more work to be done to ensure its procurement processes are properly managed.
Andrew Podger is an Honorary Professor of Public Policy at the Australian National University. As a long-time serving public servant, Professor Podger was Public Service Commissioner 2002-2004 Secretary of the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care 1996-2002, Secretary of the Australian Department of Housing and Regional Development 1994-1996, Secretary of the Australian Department of Administrative Services 1993-94. He was awarded an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 2004.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on August 17, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/striking-the-right-balance-key-to-solving-consultancy-conundrum/",
"author": "Andrew Podger"
} |
1,375 | Student protests look familiar but march to a different beat - 360
James Arvanitakis
Published on May 16, 2024
Student demonstrations at many universities, sparked by the Israel-Hamas conflict, revive an old legacy. But these are different times.
Students at universities across Melbourne are refusing to disband pro-Palestinian encampments as tensions between them and university administrators rise.
Classes have been cancelled at the University of Melbourne after protesters occupied an arts building on Wednesday. Deakin University students have also refused to remove their encampment following a second order to do so from university management.
As the pro-Palestinian protests continue on university campuses in Australia and other parts of the world, it is easy to see them as continuing the tradition of explosive student demonstrations that began in the 1960s with protests against the Vietnam War.
Largely made up of student coalitions, the latest protests are primarily focused on the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which has seen more than 34,000 Palestinians killed and 77,000 injured by Israeli attacks according to Gaza authorities.
Pro-Palestinian protesters are demanding universities cut financial and academic ties with Israel, support a ceasefire in Gaza and disclose investments related to the conflict. Critics of the protests decry them as antisemitic.
A university education is meant to be about more than building disciplinary knowledge or kickstarting careers.
A well-rounded university education should highlight our place in the world, our responsibilities to those around us — both near and far — and our collective responsibility to identify and protest against injustice.
Even if the resulting demands for a better world are idealistic (and possibly naïve), we want our universities to produce citizens who demand more from us as fellow members of society.
As the current protests show, this notion of universities as beacons of democratic dissent and free speech is again being put to the test.
From the anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960s and ’70s to the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s, the anti-Iraq War protests in the early 2000s and Black Lives Matter rallies just a few years ago, universities have long been places that can act as a barometer of feelings and an outlet for anger towards injustices.
Even the recent decision by Northeastern University to request Massachusetts State Police to enter the campus and use riot gear to clear an encampment on the campus resulting in the arrest of 102 protesters has a precedent in the 1960s.
In many ways, the nonviolent direct action of these encampments is exactly what we should expect to see from our universities and the students who attend them.
But while familiar in many ways, these protests are also different.
They are different because they have been accompanied at times by calls for violence against a nation and even a group of people — in this case Jews.
We have heard calls from student leaders that “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and that US President Joe Biden should be killed in the name of peace because of his support for Israel.
They are different from previous anti-war protests because they have been fuelled by social media, whose algorithms reward extremism and controversy.
From the beginning of the conflict in Gaza in October 2023, propaganda from both Hamas and Israel has travelled through the internet, providing content depicting graphic violence, misleading and outright false claims, and hate speech — particularly “upticks in specific and general Islamophobic and antisemitic narratives”.
It is different because academic presses such as Verso have published works that celebrate the October 7 attacks as “exhilarating” and “moments of freedom, that defeated Zionist expectations of submission to occupation and siege”, ignoring the more than 1,200 people murdered by Hamas.
Likewise, public rallies supporting Israel have moved beyond protesting antisemitism and demands for the Israeli hostages to be released into incessantly echoing calls to keep bombing Gaza — celebrating not just war, but possible war crimes.
While protests have long played a role in the university experience, it is important to unpack why these differences have emerged.
Maybe the clues can be found in the inability of the leadership of the elite universities to show, well, leadership.
This was highlighted when the presidents of three Ivy League universities fronted a Congressional hearing and could not answer a simple question: “Would calling for the genocide of Jews constitute a violation of the code of conduct at your school, yes or no?”
Three trends have influenced the way that debates happen on university campuses and beyond, placing the contemporary university in a polarised position.
The first is the structure of aforementioned social media algorithms, which provide users with a distorted view of reality and promote extremism. We tend to see the most controversial posts and read what confirms our own view of the world. In this scenario, the world is black and white — people are right or wrong and there is no room for nuanced opinions.
The second is that the prevalence of ‘safe spaces’ over brave spaces has created a tendency to avoid the educational power of discomfort. In the Coddling of the American Mind, authors Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt argue that too much effort is put into protecting contemporary students from confronting complex and difficult topics.
Not only is the contemporary student shielded from controversial topics, but they have no opportunity to discuss, debate, work through and wrestle with them alongside classmates with which they disagree.
The third is the politicisation of universities which, since at least the 1990s, has placed them in the middle of the culture wars.
Monitored by social media warriors as well as media and political ideologues, every lecture becomes a potential battleground.
In this fraught context, many academics will avoid rather than discuss controversial topics. If, for example, a criticism of the atrocities of the Israel Defense Forces is antisemitic, defending Israel’s right to exist is seen as supporting imperialism and genocide.
While protests on campuses are nothing new, what is different is that fuelled by outside agitation, neither side is willing to cede ground.
That their views may not be as correct as they believe them to be is not on the table. In this environment, these appear to be less recognisable as student protests, and more as the mobilisation of ideologues.
There is a need for political, educational and community leaders to respond with a sense of urgency.
University leadership could stop relying on riot police to respond to protesters while moving to engage directly with their demands. Both antisemitic and anti-Islamic rhetoric needs to be dealt with through the hate speech process not repression.
In the longer term, returning complex and intractable topics back to the classroom and empowering academic and student voices to discuss them could help us find a better way forward.
Professor James Arvanitakis is the Director of the Forrest Research Foundation and an adjunct at the University of Western Australia, Curtin University and Western Sydney University. He is the inaugural Patron of Diversity Arts Australia. His research interests include citizenship, resilience, piracy and the future of universities.
This article has been updated and republished in light of the current situation at Australian universities. It was first published on May 2, 2024.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Editors Note: In the story “University challenge” sent at: 16/05/2024 17:33.
This is a corrected repeat. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on May 16, 2024 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/student-protests-look-familiar-but-march-to-a-different-beat/",
"author": "James Arvanitakis"
} |
1,376 | Subscribe - 360 | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | null | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/subscribe/",
"author": null
} |
1,377 | Success without substance - 360
Adrian Barnett
Published on December 26, 2022
Science is obsessed with measurements of success. Very few of them mean much at all.
New Zealander Nigel Richards has won the French Scrabble championship twice. What’s more remarkable than double wins is that Nigel doesn’t speak French. He applied his prodigious brain to the task of memorising words from the French dictionary, bypassing the need for understanding.
In 2022, The Lancet medical journal achieved a feat that has parallels with Nigel’s Scrabble win. It achieved the highest ‘impact factor’ of any scientific journal in history. This number does not measure noble goals such as improvements in the length or quality of life. Instead, impact factor is a numbers game tangential to the purpose of medical research. Like Nigel’s Scrabble game, it is success without substance.
The impact factor is calculated using the total number of times scientists have referenced papers from the journal, so it measures attention, both good and bad. The average journal article in medicine gets 15 citations over 10 years. As an example of bad attention, The Lancet’s famously discredited study that linked the MMR vaccine to autism has more than 1,800 citations.
Citations are often inaccurate, with researchers referencing findings that were not in the paper, or misunderstanding the paper. Many citations are fleeting, with authors using long lists of citations as a way of demonstrating their in-depth knowledge of a field.
The desire to win the impact factor game has predictably led to bad behaviour, with journals seeking to inflate their impact factor by fiddling their data. Some citations are even corrupt, with journals and reviewers manipulating citations to make themselves look better.
Real improvements are what journals should aspire to, but measuring how a journal has helped people’s lives is extremely difficult. Instead, we are lumped with the impact factor that is simple to measure, but measures nothing of value.
To win the impact factor game, journals need to publish papers that will garner a lot of attention. This creates an incentive for journals to publish headline-grabbing papers about new breakthroughs, while important papers debunking existing treatments can find it harder to get in a ‘top’ journal.
This also creates an incentive for researchers to work on new and exciting breakthroughs. But there’s a lot of much-needed research on relatively mundane parts of health. For example, governments could save an enormous amount of money if they stopped providing treatments that have no scientific evidence.
One headline-grabbing paper published by The Lancet has had 5,878 citations – the Scrabble equivalent of playing “quiz” on a triple letter score. This paper grabbed the headlines because it was an early study of the risks of dying from COVID-19 from a hospital in Wuhan, China. But this paper includes a serious flaw. The calculations excluded patients who were still alive, creating an enormous potential for reverse-survivor bias to skew the results.
For scientists, this flaw is easy to spot, so it’s not clear why it wasn’t spotted in the peer review process, where other experts check over the paper before publication. But The Lancet has also missed other flaws, for example another headline-grabbing COVID-19 paper that needed readers to point out impossibilities in the data. Possibly the urgency of the pandemic meant that peer review was trumped by attention.
It’s not just journals that are distracted by flimsy numbers. Scientists are also vulnerable to citation competitions rather than competing to do the best science. Scientists can boost their citation scores by citing their own work. Bigger boosts come from working together, and citation cartels have been discovered where groups of scientists make a pact to cite each other’s papers.
Universities are also prone to meaningless metrics, as they compete in international rankings tables, such as QS, Times Higher Education and ARWU. The idea that any university could be summed up using a single number is something that primary school children could understand. Nevertheless universities — the pinnacle of education — are enslaved to these numbers. And what are the tables based on? Citations feature heavily, and other numbers that are easy to measure but do not measure the quality of education.
But recently two heavyweight US law schools have withdrawn from the biggest league table used in the US. This is a bold decision as league tables can influence student numbers and higher education policy. The schools took a stand because the tables are “using a misguided formula that discourages law schools from doing what is best for legal education.”
Scientists, journals and universities have become slaves to misguided formulas based on meaningless data. Science is one of humanity’s proudest achievements, but scientists are human and have become distracted by prestige games that do nothing to advance science.
Now more than ever, science needs to be performing at its peak, as humanity deals with its biggest ever challenges. It’s time to stop the counting games and work on what really counts.
Adrian Barnett is a professor of statistics who has worked for over 27 years in health and medical research. He was the president of the Statistical Society of Australia from 2018 to 2020. His current research at QUT concerns improving research practice to reduce waste. He declares no conflict of interest.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on December 26, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/success-without-substance/",
"author": "Adrian Barnett"
} |
1,378 | Sugar tax could boost both health and economy - 360
Sarah Mounsey
Published on September 27, 2022
Taxes on sugary drinks can often improve a nation’s economy, rather than having the devastating impact industry has claimed.
In Fiji, the traditional diet of fresh tropical fruits, leafy vegetables and fresh seafood is progressively being replaced with imported, processed foods, high in fat, salt and sugar. The result is an epidemic of obesity (growing most rapidly across Pacific nations) and crippling levels of non-communicable disease (NCDs), such as stroke, heart disease and diabetes.
Since the government of Fiji implemented a tax on sugary drinks, the beverage industry has resorted to common push-back tactics, declaring taxes would hurt the economy of Fiji: jobs would be lost, communities would suffer.
However, in Fiji, one parent company owns 90 percent of the beverage industry, with five sister companies producing all beverages, including water, and juice — meaning that a sugary drink tax will only minimally impact the company’s profits and employment, because consumers would buy substitutes for sugary drinks from the same company.
The tax also stacks up, when weighing up the economic benefit of reduced NCDs against any potential loss of prosperity from reduced consumption of sugary drinks.
Fiji’s case provides a lesson for policymakers around the world facing industry lobbying against health taxes.
There is strong political will and commitment to reduce NCDs, which remain the biggest cause of death globally. In 2021, they were responsible for over 40 million deaths – that’s nearly three quarters of total deaths. Of these deaths, 15 million occurred in the ‘premature’ 30-69 age bracket, people who would otherwise be leading productive lives.
Diet is a key risk factor for NCDs, so taxes on sugary drinks have proved a popular and effective intervention for reducing diet-related NCD risk factors. World Bank figures show that in 2020, more than 40 countries had various sugary drink taxes in place.
Some countries also tax unhealthy, low nutrient, energy-dense foods. Mexico taxes foods with high energy density, such as fried foods and ice-cream; Denmark, Dominica, Finland and Norway tax chocolate and sweet confectionery.
Researchers worldwide are looking into ways to group, and tax, foods based on how healthy they are, using scientifically based, non-discriminatory nutrient profiling.
Researchers at Imperial College London, UK, are designing taxes that don’t add financial burden to individuals or households, that get distributed equally across income groups, and that are administratively feasible. The resulting policy could nudge consumers to adopt healthier diets without adding to the household food bill, and incentivise industry to reformulate their products to meet healthier nutrition standards. In a similar study into health taxes at Oxford University, UK, researchers are also estimating the planetary health impacts of various tax and subsidy scenarios.
While some policymakers fear these taxes could lead to employment loss and economic downturn, a global study found that most claims of economic downturn come from food and beverage industry-funded reports which used methods to estimate job and economic losses that do not (and cannot) take into account consumer response.
For instance, in Mexico, one study estimated that the combined sugar taxes and energy-dense food tax would cause up to 16,000 job losses — yet a peer-reviewed academic paper using appropriate economic methods found no significant net change to employment. Similarly, in Philadelphia, USA, one study estimated 1,190 job losses from a sugary drink tax, while another gave a net estimate of no significant change in employment. The conclusion from reviewing studies across the world was that the more robust studies showed negligible job loss and, in some studies, small job gains.
While the food and beverage industry may see initial job losses as consumers’ spending shifts from taxed goods to other goods and services, employment increases in those sectors. Also, government revenue from the tax will subsequently increase government spending in other sectors. Revenue can also be redirected into programmes to improve the livelihood of those impacted by any job loss or into subsidies for healthier foods like fruit and vegetables.
A five-year Global Alliance of Chronic Disease project in Fiji and Samoa is exploring how to scale up food policy interventions to prevent two key NCDs: type-two diabetes and hypertension. The project is consulting development partners, policy makers and community groups about the factors that either support or undermine policies for NCD prevention.
NCDs inflict significant social and economic burden on people, households, communities, health services, employers and governments, leading to reduced labour force productivity and eventual downturn in national income and human capital investment.
Prevention strategies for NCDs are critical, and require a comprehensive package of population level interventions with a whole-of-society approach. The global analysis and the example of Fiji show that there is little evidence supporting industry claims of economic downturn. Instead, in addition to health and productivity benefits, there are significant economic benefits through revenue raised and health costs saved.
Sarah Mounsey is a research associate at Imperial College, London. The Pacific Islands of Fiji and Tonga have been case study countries for her PhD, which looked at the health and economic impacts of diet-related fiscal policy for NCD prevention. She is currently part of a research team at Imperial, looking into the repurposing of VAT food taxes in the UK. She declares no conflict of interest.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on September 27, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/sugar-tax-could-boost-both-health-and-economy/",
"author": "Sarah Mounsey"
} |
1,379 | Suicide is a mental health issue, not a crime - 360
Anisur Rahman Khan
Published on April 19, 2023
Bangladesh inherited its suicide laws from the colonial era. A more modern approach is needed to deter the behaviour.
Content warning: This article discusses sensitive topics such as suicide that some readers may find distressing.
Bangladesh, a country of 169 million people, records approximately 10,000 suicides every year; a figure researchers say is steadily increasing.
Suicide and suicide attempts are classified as criminal offences in Bangladesh. Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 which Bangladesh inherited as a colonial tradition, provides police with the authority to arrest and courts to punish people who attempt suicide.
As a result, patients frequently leave hospital without completing treatment to avoid legal proceedings. People are generally afraid of sharing suicide intent or seeking help or admitting previous suicide attempts to avoid social or legal harassment.
There is a debate in Bangladesh on the issue of decriminalisation of suicide and suicide attempts. Some argue that without addressing fundamental issues such as a national suicide database, surveillance systems, appropriate prevention strategy and implementation and research, decriminalisation might not bring the expected outcome.
Another argument is that decriminalisation will provide better access to healthcare services, reduce stigmatisation and guilt, avoid legal complications, and empower legal authorities to care for the at-risk population.
The debate around the issue of criminalisation in Bangladesh is strongly embedded in the knowledge of Islamic thoughts and values which do not recognise the right to die voluntarily since it falls into the category of suicide. The Quran explicitly forbids suicide and the sayings (Hadith) of the Prophet confirm: “He who kills himself by something is tortured by it in the day of final judgment.”
As such, many Muslim countries, including Bangladesh, consider suicide and suicide attempts as punishable criminal offences.
It could be assumed religious faith would discourage suicidal behaviour in Bangladesh but evidence shows otherwise. The decriminalisation of suicide and attempted suicide could be carefully united with suicide prevention initiatives. Empirical data does not necessarily support that suicide rates are lower in countries where suicide is a punishable offence, rather it is the tendency of deliberate underreporting which keeps rates at a minimum.
The Bangladesh Mental Health Act 2018 does not provide any specific provision to deal with the decriminalisation of suicide or suicide attempt. Decriminalisation could have been prioritised in the Act so at-risk people receive treatment rather than punishment. Bangladesh is alone among the eight South Asian countries where suicide (and attempted suicide) is still a crime. Even Pakistan, a Muslim-majority nation, decriminalised suicide in December 2022.
Given the socioeconomic, cultural, and religious context of Bangladesh, it would be advisable for policymakers to consult widely and thoughtfully about the pros and cons of decriminalising suicide and its attempt before enacting a national suicide prevention strategy so it does not hamper the expected policy outcome and other associated issues such as data registry and support interventions.
Moral, philosophical, ethical, religious and human rights aspects of self-harm could also be carefully reviewed.
As a part of a prevention strategy, many countries have decriminalised suicide. However, without addressing other fundamental issues such as national suicide database, prevention strategies, suicide surveillance system, proper research and implementing evidences into policy, decriminalisation by itself would not bring any positive effect for Bangladesh.
Changing attitudes toward suicide which would help reduce social stigma. That comes with improving media reporting, among other things. Changes in the legal status of suicide would help reduce social stigma, legal harassment and unnecessary fear of seeking or providing medical care after suicidal behaviour.
Bangladesh is yet to formulate any comprehensive national suicide prevention strategy or a central suicide prevention database or a comprehensive suicide surveillance system.
Although evidence shows that suicide can be reduced with simple initiatives, the Bangladeshi government continues to neglect it. While there are studies on selected populations, suicide data is primarily drawn from often inconsistent and contradictory media reports and records. Hence, the magnitude and distribution of suicides and attempts are likely to be misrepresentations due to under-reporting and misclassification.
Suicide is a silent epidemic in Bangladesh. The absence of a national suicide prevention plan, lack of quality suicide surveillance data along with the under-reporting and misclassification of suicide deaths due to social, religious and cultural stigma or taboo and financial barriers to maintain national suicide reporting system are the key challenges.
Despite these barriers, Bangladesh could address suicide as a serious public health concern through systematic and comprehensive policy interventions. The current Mental Health Act is a missed opportunity. Bangladesh clearly needs a specific, inclusive and robust mental health policy that incorporates suicide prevention.
Anisur Rahman Khan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. His research interests are the Sociology of suicide, Masculinity, and Social Policy.
He declares no conflict of interest.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Editors Note: In the story “Decriminalising Suicide” sent at: 17/04/2023 10:37.
This is a corrected repeat. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on April 19, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/suicide-is-a-mental-health-issue-not-a-crime/",
"author": "Anisur Rahman Khan"
} |
1,380 | Suicide is not a crime - 360
Published on April 19, 2023
More countries are realising that punishing individuals doesn’t prevent them from acting on suicidal thoughts but simply puts them in greater distress.
Content warning: This article discusses sensitive topics such as suicide that some readers may find distressing
In 2017, a young unemployed Malaysian woman who attempted suicide ended up in court and was told by the Magistrate’s Court judge: “No matter how much pressure you are facing, suicide is not a solution. Now you’re out of the hospital, you must be charged in court anyway.”
She was fined MYR 2,000 (USD$450) in default of a three month jail sentence, compounding the obvious distress she was already suffering. The court appearance and punishment only inflicted greater emotional and financial burden.
Unfortunately in Malaysia, this is not an isolated case.
In 2020, human rights groups in Malaysia demanded the repeal of a law that criminalises attempted suicide after a man with a physical disability was sentenced to six months in prison for a suicide attempt. The 38-year-old man was arrested by the police after his family reported his erratic behaviour to the authorities.
Malaysia is one of the few countries where attempting suicide is illegal. Under existing legislation, people found guilty can be punished by up to a year in prison, a fine, or both.
But the Malaysian government is finally seeking to decriminalise suicide by repealing Section 309 of the Penal Code, which advocates say is a long time coming. However, the crime of aiding and abetting suicide under sections 305 and 306 of the Penal Code will remain but with heftier punishment for cases involving vulnerable groups.
Leah Utyasheva from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland explains that the criminalisation of aiding and abetting suicide should not be confused with the criminalisation of suicide attempts.
“While the offence of aiding and abetting suicide is a legitimate measure of protection for vulnerable groups from violence, intimidation, threats, and pressure, criminalisation of suicide attempt is an outdated concept that is widely criticised due to its many harmful effects,” Utyasheva said.
Suicide remains a serious global mental health issue. More than 700,000 people die by suicide every year with 77 percent of these deaths occurring in low-income and middle-income countries. In many of these low-income countries or even developing economies, those who attempt suicide are often faced with immense hostility.
With Pakistan, Ghana and Guyana recently changing their laws, there are still 17 countries where suicidal behaviour or suicide attempt is a criminal offence, carrying a maximum penalty of up to three years in prison. Survivors with a pre-existing mental health condition are either arrested or threatened along with their family members.
In some countries, the laws are a legacy of British colonialism and they have never been repealed, despite the United Kingdom decriminalising suicide in 1961. There may be a reluctance in certain countries to decriminalise suicide due to the fear that it may increase suicide rates, and suicide goes against religious and cultural beliefs.
In recent times, more countries have decriminalised suicide after realising that punishing individuals doesn’t prevent them from acting on suicidal thoughts but simply denies them from seeking help.
Pakistan finally decriminalised suicide late in 2022 and Ghana has approved amendments to the Criminal Offences Act of 1960, which previously made attempted suicide a criminal offence. When Singapore decriminalised suicide in early 2020, mental health advocates believed it was a ‘big win’ for the country as it normalises people to seek help without fear.
But decriminalising suicide is just one step in ending prejudice against suicide survivors and patients. Every country must be well-equipped in offering accessible mental health treatment to further destigmatise suicide and mental illness.
India introduced its Mental Healthcare Act in 2018 to ensure individuals who have attempted suicide are offered opportunities for rehabilitation by the government as opposed to being tried or punished.
According to Dr Soumitra Pathare and Tanya Nicole Fernandes from the Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy, the act has its limitations when anyone who attempts suicide is presumed to have a mental illness and should not be liable for prosecution or punishment. If authorities prove that the person did not attempt suicide due to any mental illness — the case would not fall under the Mental Healthcare Act and the police will still have to investigate the matter and eventually be tried under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code.
“Unfortunately, governments have not issued any guidance to either doctors or police personnel on how to deal with attempted suicide in light of Section 115 of the Mental Healthcare Act. As a result, old practices continue, and patients and their families are harassed or taunted,” Dr Pathare said.
Dr Siau Ching Sin from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia says one way to prevent suicide is through means restriction, which seeks to eliminate or reduce the lethal means an individual may use in their suicide attempts.
“In Sri Lanka, the restriction of several pesticides, including paraquat, led to a 50 percent reduction in suicide deaths attributable to pesticide ingestion. Ethical reporting of suicide, such as not glorifying the death or describing in detail the method is another way to reduce suicide attempts,” Dr Siau said.
“Gatekeeper suicide training, a practice of educating people to provide basic skills in identifying individuals at risk of suicide and referring them to mental health professionals is another public health effort that could raise awareness, reduce stigma, and help individuals seek necessary treatment.”
Andrian Liem from Monash University Malaysia believes having suicide registry databases can provide important information on demographics, risk factors, and trends in suicidal behaviour.
“This information can be used to develop targeted suicide prevention interventions that address the needs of different populations. From the data collected, countries can identify risk factors and develop programmes that lead to improved mental health outcomes and a reduction in suicide rates over time,” Liem said.
“Suicide registry databases are important tools for understanding and preventing suicide. However, countries must also be aware of the limitations and potential risks associated with them such as underreporting, privacy concerns, over-reliance and punitive measures. By addressing these challenges, countries can develop effective suicide intervention strategies that address the unique needs of different individuals while protecting their privacy and dignity.”
Anisur Rahman Khan from East West University, Bangladesh urges policymakers to consult widely and thoughtfully about the pros and cons of decriminalising suicide and its attempt before enacting a national suicide prevention strategy. This is to avoid tampering with any policy outcomes and other associated issues such as data registry and support interventions. Policymakers should also consider the moral, philosophical, ethical, religious and human rights aspects of self-harm.
“Bangladesh is yet to formulate any comprehensive national suicide prevention strategy or a central suicide prevention database or comprehensive suicide surveillance system. Although evidence shows that suicide can be reduced with simple initiatives, the Bangladeshi government continues to neglect it,” Khan said.
“While there are studies on selected populations, suicide data is primarily drawn from often inconsistent and contradictory media reports and records. Hence, the magnitude and distribution of suicides and attempts are likely to be misrepresentations due to under-reporting and misclassification.”
If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, visit https://findahelpline.com/i/iasp.
Editors Note: In the story “Decriminalising suicide” sent at: 19/04/2023 10:49.
This is a corrected repeat. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on April 19, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/suicide-is-not-a-crime/",
"author": ""
} |
1,381 | Surabaya’s antidote to the rise of concrete jungles - 360
Martiwi Setiawati
Published on February 28, 2022
The Indonesian city of Surabaya put in public parks where others put in buildings. It is now reaping the creative, economic and cooling benefits.
Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city, is known for its oppressive heat. It’s a reputation the city’s first female Mayor Tri Rismaharini set out to change more than a decade ago.
Other cities, also beset by the urban heat island effect, are now looking to Surabaya as the climate warms.
As green spaces are replaced with concrete jungles, the urban heat island effect pushes temperatures higher – by up to 5.3 degrees. This adversely affects sleep quality and appetite, and has been associated with depression, diabetes, heart disease, and dementia.
Urban heat stress also influences productivity and drives up heat-related illnesses and death.
Indonesia is a growing nation where 57 percent of the population lives in urban areas. The urban population is increasing by 2.2 percent a year, adding to heat stress. Indonesia hasn’t been keeping records on deaths due to heat hazards, but new evidence points to very strong heat stress in Indonesia’s city centres.
Urban residents around the world are increasingly forced to reduce physical activity, stay in a shaded place, or spend most of their time indoors in an air-conditioned environment. Awareness campaigns on the risks of heat stress have not yet been implemented in Indonesia.
The difference is the result of increased vegetation coverage in Surabaya. In the past decade, Surabaya has built urban parks with a focus on public creative spaces. These have also brought economic benefits. One, Bungkul Park, serves multiple purposes, including supporting street vendors, sports and recreation and art activities.
Surabaya’s Green and Clean (SGC) program transformed the village of Margorukun, previously a slum area with a high crime rate. Today, locals grow ornamental plants, and produce handicrafts with recycled garbage, with the proceeds providing an income or directed toward ecotourism sustainability.
Given climate change, urban greening is a low-regret intervention that provides relatively significant benefits at a lower cost. Air purification, flood control, recreational space, CO2 sequestration, and food production are just a few of the services urban vegetation can provide.
Indonesian law mandates that at least 30 percent of urban areas be dedicated to open green spaces. This law also applies to spatial planning in the provinces and districts (RTRW). But not every local government is on-board, some preferring to prioritise economic growth and job creation.
Surabaya has tried to achieve both – setting a target for open green spaces in its master plan with 20 percent public space and 10 percent private space. With a public open green space ratio of 20.75 percent in 2015, this policy was consistent with national regulation, and efficiently implemented and enforced. Even though this urban green space is not explicitly intended to reduce urban heat island pressure, this one action with multiple benefits can reduce the heat stress in Surabaya, offering inspiration for other cities in Indonesia and around the world.
Martiwi Diah Setiawati graduated from Yamaguchi University, Japan. She is a researcher in Research Centre for Oceanography, Indonesia’s Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN). Her works focus on remote sensing and GIS application to multiple environmental conditions such as disaster mitigation, climate change adaptation and habitat characteristic. Dr. Setiawati declared no conflicts of interest in relation to this article.
This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI with the grant number 19H01144 and JSPS Core-to-Core Program B under Asia–Africa Science Platforms “Center of Excellence in Health Risk Assessment for Adaptation to Climate Change.
This article has been republished in the wake of heatwaves in India, China and Europe. It first appeared on March 11, 2022.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Editors Note: In the story “Coping with heatwaves” sent at: 18/07/2022 11:03.
This is a corrected repeat. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on February 28, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/surabayas-antidote-to-the-rise-of-concrete-jungles/",
"author": "Martiwi Setiawati"
} |
1,382 | Surrogacy in India not just for married heterosexuals - 360
Swati Gola
Published on July 19, 2023
India’s revised surrogacy law does little to meet the needs of its growing LGBTQ+ community.
India’s revised surrogacy law has been praised for outlawing commercial surrogacy, but it has also been criticised for restricting who is eligible to undertake altruistic surrogacy.
Since the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021 came into force in January 2022, domestic commercial surrogacy has been banned. Transnational commercial surrogacy was banned back in 2015.
The Act has been seen as a welcome step in the right direction given the many issues associated with commercial surrogacy, including surrogate-born children being abandoned by their intended parents, the exploitation of surrogate mothers and novel legal issues around parentage and nationality.
However many feel it does not go far enough.
It restricts access to altruistic surrogacy services to heterosexual married couples with no surviving child, with exceptions for physical or mental impairments and life-threatening conditions.
Altruistic surrogacy is where the surrogate mother is given no expenses, fees, or monetary incentive of any nature, except medical and other prescribed expenses.
Under the Act same-sex couples, other members of the LGBTQ+ community, single men and live-in couples are excluded.
This traditionalist approach goes against Indian culture and also breaches India’s human rights obligations.
It reinforces the narrow social perceptions of a ‘traditional family’ helmed by a heterosexual couple and entrenched in patriarchal gender norms.
Indian lawmakers have restricted the rights of the LGBTQ+ community to form a family despite the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 2018 and the government’s willingness to explore administrative solutions to day-to-day issues that same-sex couples face.
At the same time, reasons for excluding the LGBTQ+ community from accessing surrogacy have ranged from legal complications arising from third party gamete (sperm or egg) donation resulting in future custody battles, to a lack of legal recognition of same-sex and live-in couples as well as the challenges of raising a child alone.
Ancient Hindu culture did not show any social bias against transgendered people nor were same-sex relationships barred by early Hindu scriptures. The well-known story of Shikhandi (or Shikhandini) in the Mahabharata is the earliest example of gender fluidity and sex change.
The intriguing story of Mohini (when Lord Vishnu turned into a beautiful woman to trick asuras during Samudra Manthan) and her union with Lord Shiva can be seen as a reference to same-sex conjugation.
Even the earliest texts like the Rig Veda cite the story of Mitra-Varun (a same-sex couple believed to be the representatives of the two halves of the moon).
Above all, temple art from 950-1050 AD is full of erotic imagery, including men with men and women erotically embracing each other.
Although ancient Hindu legal codes like Manusmriti (text codifying social and moral conduct for Hindus) or Arthashastra (treatise on statecraft and political science) seem to frown upon homosexuality, they don’t carry the force of law in a pluralistic Hindu society.
Same-sex relationships have existed in India from time immemorial and were socially acceptable even during the Mughal period. The British criminalised homosexuality in India through the Indian Penal Code in 1860, imposing Victorian morality on the Indian psyche.
Legally, the right to “found a family” is an internationally acknowledged human right under Article 23(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which India is a party.
The Indian Constitution bars discrimination between one class of citizen and another through Article 15. Article 14 of the Constitution specifically provides for “equality before law”.
In 2010, the Supreme Court of India held that live-in relationships are equal to marriage. And since 2014, India has officially recognised transgender people as a third gender.
An earlier Supreme Court ruling in 1992 reiterated the duty of the state to use the law to bring about a more equal society as envisioned in the Indian Constitution.
Thirty years later, the Supreme Court acknowledged that “familial relationships may take the form of domestic, unmarried partnerships or queer relationships”.
By restricting access to altruistic surrogacy, the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021 potentially discriminates against the LGBTQ+ community and live-in partners.
With the decriminalisation of same-sex relationships, acceptance of live-in relationships and the ever-broadening social and legal understanding of family, it is only a matter of time before the eligibility criteria for an intended parent or parents will be challenged in courts of law.
If this happens, it is likely that the court will not look favourably upon this conservative perception of family.
Dr Swati Gola is a lecturer at the University of Exeter’s Law School. Her research examines the impact of trade liberalisation on human rights, socio-legal implications of reproductive tourism in India, and medical tourism and health equity.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on July 19, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/surrogacy-in-india-not-just-for-married-heterosexuals/",
"author": "Swati Gola"
} |
1,383 | Surviving extreme heat in the slums - 360
Elspeth Oppermann, Jamie Cross
Published on February 28, 2022
How people in low-income communities are coping with heating cities could set the example for future heat-stressed citizens to follow.
As the world’s cities and towns heat up, authorities and governments often tell people to shelter indoors or use active cooling like electric fans or air conditioners.
But how do you follow this advice when your home is made of scrap metal and wood, your access to electricity averages around four hours per day, or your modest income is already spent on food and simply can’t be extended to cooling?
By 2050, more than one billion people, including those living in some of the poorest parts of the planet, could face extreme heat stress unlike anyone in recorded human history. Experts, along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are asking: how will these populations adapt?
An international team of anthropologists, geographers, engineers, urban planners, architects and epidemiologists are finding some answers by studying how people are coping with hot conditions in Karachi, Jakarta, Hyderabad, and Douala. In these cities, many people effectively live ‘off-grid’ with unreliable access to quality housing, water, electricity, shelter and shade. The pandemic only left them more confined, forced to deal with heat-related illness, even during periods of cooler weather.
In a survey of 4,564 low-income residents, only seven people reported having or using an air conditioning unit; and only 34 percent of respondents reported using an electric fan as their primary cooling method when it was hot.
Some 40 percent of all respondents had less than 12 hours of electricity per day. The lack of readily available water, which in some cases was further reduced during COVID-19 measures, was also closely correlated with symptoms of heat related illness, such as blurred vision.
EMBED START Image {id: "editor_5"}
EMBED END Image {id: "editor_5"}
How they coped could set the example for future heat-stressed citizens to follow, from obvious, well documented practices, like increasing airflow or ventilation, to using incidental shade provided by street trees or urban infrastructures like flyovers.
Other informal strategies included visiting neighbours or relatives and using water, not for hydration, but bathing and wetting down the interior surfaces of homes. Many of these practices are rarely present in urban heat-action plans developed by city authorities or governments.
These cooling strategies don’t occur in a vacuum. They are enabled by a range of social, cultural, technical and economic structures that make them possible or permissible. For example, women often have less access to shade and cooler public places due to cultural norms and safety concerns about being outside, particularly when high-density informal housing means ‘outside’ is a public domain.
Water is used very differently in response to heat across Karachi, Jakarta, Hyderabad, and Douala. Bathing was the most common strategy in the Pakistani city of Karachi (used by about a fifth of the population), yet not mentioned at all in the Indian city of Hyderabad — pointing to the need to carefully consider resource availability and cultural norms for how water is used.
EMBED START Image {id: "editor_7"}
EMBED END Image {id: "editor_7"}
Policymakers can identify, recognise and assist low-tech, energy-efficient and water-efficient strategies already being used across low-income communities. Some of these can be supported through tweaks informed by the latest science — for example, considering when using a fan helps, when it hinders heat loss, and when small amounts of water or ice can help effectively cool homes and bodies.
There is an assumption that basic access to electricity, water, and shelter is always available — they aren’t. Policy focus should not only be on the emergency provision of water, electricity and shelter during extreme heat events. This is a very expensive band-aid for an arterial bleed. Extreme heat is not only a short-term event — in the global tropics, populations are also exposed seasonally, or all year-round. Ensuring basic access to water, power and shelter all the time — or at least much more of it — is crucial.
In rapidly developing parts of the world, policies that assume a standardised built environment, occupied by geographically stable, atomistic households with reliable incomes don’t reflect reality. They also overlook opportunities for novel solutions to managing heat in a warming world. For example, informal electricity connections (either directly to the grid, or via a neighbour) have played a crucial role in providing energy and reducing heat stress for the lowest income groups. Rather than malign ‘illegal connections’, city authorities need to support community connections that maintain safety while providing flexible access.
Low-tech interventions are not a panacea to climate change. The shade of a tree, appropriate use of fans, or improved ventilation of homes only works as long as outdoor conditions remain survivable. This might not be the case in many regions by 2050.
We can still feasibly protect the global poor from the heat at the current 1-1.5°C limit, but not so at 2°C when temperatures will become too much for the human body to bear. Staying under 1.5°C means low-tech responses have a higher chance of working. Beyond that, their efficacy drops off rapidly.
Adapting to extreme heat isn’t new — communities have a range of localised responses that are deeply embedded in their social and cultural circumstances. Paying attention to everyday strategies is a foundation stone for reducing heat-health risk now and in the future. But it’s a foundation on unstable ground — only limiting warming to 1.5°C will give the house a chance of standing.
Dr Elspeth Oppermann is a senior researcher at the Rachel Carson Center, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich.
Professor Jamie Cross is Chair of Social and Economic Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, and Director of the Edinburgh Earth Initiative.
This research was funded by UK Research and Innovation and the Global Challenges Research Fund through the Economic and Social Research Council, with support from the Scottish Funding Council, as part of Cool Infrastructures, a multi-disciplinary project into life with heat in global cities.
This article has been republished in the wake of heatwaves in Asia. It first appeared on March 11, 2022.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Editors Note: In the story “Record heat” sent at: 22/05/2023 07:00.
This is a corrected repeat. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on February 28, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/surviving-extreme-heat-in-the-slums/",
"author": "Elspeth Oppermann, Jamie Cross"
} |
1,384 | Surviving the megadrought in the southwestern US - 360
Duran Fiack
Published on June 22, 2022
Parts of the United States have endured an epoch-defining megadrought, but continue to find ways to survive through a diverse policy-based response.
For two decades, the southwestern region of the United States has been in the grips of one of the most severe droughts of the last 1,200 years. It is a grave challenge to the most basic of rights: access to water, basic food production, and the habitability of cities. Policymakers across the country have needed to be bold and varied in their quest to secure water and draw upon the lessons of the past.
The causes of the multidecadal drought, often referred to as a ‘megadrought’, can be largely attributed to lower rainfall. The deficit is driven by natural variability in rainfall patterns, ocean dynamics in the tropical Pacific, and exceptionally warm temperatures.
Collectively, these phenomena have dried out soil, reduced stream flow, and created snow droughts. It has prompted a major decline in surface and groundwater resources, economic losses, ecosystem disruptions, and an increased risk of wildfires.
From January 2020 to August 2021, six southwestern states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah) experienced the lowest total precipitation and the third-highest daily average temperatures recorded since 1895. The weather pattern continued into 2022 and prompted governors in each of the six states to issue drought emergency declarations. The federal government issued an unprecedented water shortage declaration, ordering water restrictions along the Colorado River, a major source of water for agriculture and cities in the region.
The frequency and intensity of such droughts, and their cross-cutting and compound effects, are projected to increase as a result of climate change. In response, policymakers and water agencies across the southwest have developed new water management strategies to enhance local drought resilience. At the local level, such efforts are frequently nested within a complex inter- and intrastate institutional framework in which surface water supplies (as opposed to groundwater) are governed using an ‘appropriative’ system of water rights.
Administered by state-level agencies, the allocation of finite surface water flows is complicated by the diversity of competing stakeholders – social, economic, and environmental – intensifying discussions in dry times. Water management decisions at the local level may be hindered by state-level water restrictions enacted ad hoc, intergovernmental treaties concerning transboundary water resources, and environmental regulations.
Despite the challenges imposed by drought and the region’s Byzantine water policy structure, many of the southwest’s largest and fastest growing cities have been able to adapt and increase their drought resilience. Water has been conserved through both regulation and incentive-based programmes that focus on increasing the installation of water-saving technologies and transformation of urban landscapes from water-dependent turf lawns to drought-tolerant vegetation.
Residents and businesses located in San Diego, California, for example, have access to a variety of programmes and services facilitated by the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA). A wholesale water supplier, the SDCWA serves the city along with 23 other municipalities and water agencies located within San Diego County. The SDCWA’s WaterSmart initiative includes various rebates and educational resources to subsidise a portion of the costs to residents and businesses that invest in more water-efficient technology and landscapes.
In other regions, policymakers have taken a more heavy-handed approach to reduce the use of water-intensive turf lawns. In 2021, amidst the region’s most recent drought emergency, Nevada lawmakers passed an unprecedented law that banned “non-functional turf” in the Las Vegas area.
Efforts to reduce urban water use have been coupled with initiatives to enhance water supply diversification. The city of Phoenix, the fifth largest city in the US, largely relies upon water pumped across state lines from the Colorado River. However, the city also receives water in-state from the Salt and Verde rivers via the Salt River Project, which are generally less constrained than the Colorado River, as well as a small portion of water drawn from local groundwater reserves.
In 2003, the SDCWA took an innovative approach to diversify its water supply through a water transfer agreement with the Imperial Irrigation District, which provides water for irrigation to farmland located in southern California’s Imperial Valley. The SDCWA agreed to fund irrigation improvements for the District and lease the resulting water savings. With funding assistance from the state government, the SDWCA also lined two transfer channels to reduce water loss caused by seepage.
More recently, the city of San Diego and the SDCWA have also invested in water pipe monitoring technology to detect and repair leaks in the municipality’s water distribution system. Lastly, in 2015, San Diego County opened the nation’s largest desalination plant. The SDCWA entered a public-private agreement that will meet approximately 10 percent of San Diego’s water needs.
Water recycling has also played an increasing role in local efforts to increase water supply diversification. In 2019, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged to recycle 100 percent of the city’s waste water by 2035. In Las Vegas, the Southern Nevada Water Authority captures and treats 99 percent of waste water from indoor use, putting it into Lake Mead, which provides about 90 percent of the Authority’s water supply. The remaining 10 percent is met through groundwater reserves. The city of Phoenix recycles effectively 100 percent of its wastewater, delivering it for uses in agriculture, energy production, urban irrigation, groundwater replenishment and river ecosystem maintenance.
In San Diego, two plants recycle approximately 8 percent of the city’s waste water for non-drinking uses such as irrigation and manufacturing. And in 2021, the city launched the Pure Water San Diego initiative that includes constructing two new plants to treat waste water to meet drinking water standards. The multi-year program aims to provide more than 40 percent of the city’s local water supply by 2035.
In response to the southwest’s persistent drought conditions, cities have undertaken multi-pronged approaches to enhance drought resilience. In some of the most arid locations, these efforts have been fruitful. From 2002 to 2020, per capita water consumption in the SNWA service area decreased by 47 percent, while the region’s population increased by approximately 52 percent.
Within the complex structure of western water policy, long-term, collaborative initiatives that span the public and private sectors and various levels of governance has led to this achievement. However, while the short-term outlook is positive, important questions remain concerning long-term sustainability considering the expected droughts to come and their short- and long-term effects on rural communities and the natural environment.
Duran Fiack is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Lehman College of the City University of New York. His research focuses on U.S. climate change mitigation and adaptation policy and planning at the state and local levels.
No conflicts of interest were declared in relation to this article.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on June 22, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/surviving-the-megadrought-in-southwestern-us/",
"author": "Duran Fiack"
} |
1,385 | Surviving the pitfalls of gig work - 360
Ria Ernunsari
Published on December 27, 2023
App-based rideshare and delivery work is exploding across southeast Asia and offers plenty of flexibility but has numerous downsides.
The gig economy is like a breath of fresh air for young people, women, and even those in retirement years looking to earn some income. A flexible job can add to the piggy bank or fill the time before a formal job kicks in.
COVID-19 pumped up this opportunity and made a big contribution to a nation’s economy.
The flexible working model, without being tied to a specific time, place, or special skills, also benefits businesses. They don’t need to supply office space, provide health benefits, job security, or other business support aspects.
The number of gig workers is skyrocketing in developing countries compared to developed ones. The World Bank notes a 130 percent surge in Sub-Saharan countries, while in North America, it’s only a 14 percent increase.
But there are issues.
The imbalance in bargaining power between gig workers and tech companies raises the spectre of economic exploitation.
Many gig jobs provide minimal to no safeguards for workers, unpredictable income and lacking well-defined career progression. Depending on regional labour laws, gig workers lack protection from unjust practices, abuse, or workplace injuries. Additionally, gig work poses difficulties in overseeing data security and privacy.
What does the gig economy look like in Asia? 360info has summoned the experts. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on December 27, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/surviving-the-pitfalls-of-gig-work/",
"author": "Ria Ernunsari"
} |
1,386 | Sustainability in action: the Karen peoples' farming system - 360
Prasert Trakansuphakon
Published on December 21, 2022
By having a seven to ten-year farming system, the Karen people in Thailand show how to create a sustainable environment and help the climate.
For 2000 years the Karen people in northern Thailand have practised a form of long term rotational farming that allows the land to recover then thrive, ready for the next harvest.
This practice lies at the heart of the way the people of the Hin Lad Nai community in the hills of Chiang-rai province manage natural resources. The philosophy of sustainable management is captured in a poem that says, “Auf hti K’tau hti, auf kauj k’ tauz kauj, auf deif k’ tauz lei, auf nyaf k’ tauz kwiv “ (use water care of rivers, use land care of forest, use/eat frogs care of cliff and use/eat fishes care of water sources).
The system of fallow, or ‘rational farming cycle’, allows an area to regenerate for 7-10 years, then the farmers cultivate it again for one year. After harvesting, they let the field become fallow again for another 7-10 years while it regenerates.
This rotational farming system contributes to lower carbon emissions. Allowing 236 hectares of fields to lie fallow for up to 10 years stores 17,348 tonnes of carbon. The burning of rotation fields releases just 476 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Rotational farming helps maintain the balance of the ecosystem and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, helping tackle climate change.
The stumps of trees cut back to allow planting crops don’t die but come back with small branches sprouting around the stump. The roots will not dry. They maintain the structure of the ground in the field, which means a lower risk of erosion and landslides. Old stumps create a new generation of healthy trees quickly. This is the main reason why Karen rotational farmers keep the stumps long when they slash the trees.
Around 37 species of trees sprout. New grass also grows. Each stump gives rise to up to five outgrowth trees, growing in clumps. Around nine species of plants grow from seed. In the first year, trees reach around 170cm; the trunk is about the same size as a human thumb.
In the first and second year of fallow, grass and new shoots of trees appear, providing food and shelter for animals. The fields provide very good young grass for domestic animals, such as buffalo. The animals graze these areas until the following period of the fallow. In the second year, poultry and insect-eating birds are present. Up to 21 kinds of mammals appear, attracted by the plentiful food such as taro, yam, chilli, egg plants, rattan shoot, sweet potatoes, fern bunch, cassava, lemon grass, ginger and galangal, which are either sown or appear naturally.
The third and fourth year are called young trees fallow (bush fallow). Taller trees shade the grass, causing it to slowly decline. At the same time, vines appear along with clumps of bamboo and rattan. The number of tree species increases to around 50. Different tree species, rhizome/rootstock species and vines grow sparsely, while mushrooms grow over old logs and under the trees. Bamboo shoots, rattan shoots, sedges, flags, orchids, hemp, and herbs grow and can be harvested by villagers. There are also an increasing number of vines that can be used as herbal medicines.
There are around 23 species of mammal in the third- and fourth-year fallows Karen call Doo yauv ploj (young tree fallow). There are plenty of vines among the young trees which makes an attractive habitat for rodents, which make up about half the mammals living in the area. Larger animals such as wild boar and barking deer come and stay during this period. There is more space as the grass dies off because of increased shade from the growing trees. Around 19 species of poultry are found, many in the morning. In the fourth-year bigger poultry are found, particularly in the evening. The birds are attracted by the denser tree cover which make it better for roosting. Trees also begin fruiting which provides food.
The fifth-and sixth year is known as Doo loov htauf (fallow stand-up ) as the trees grow taller. In the seventh to ten years the Karen call the fallow ground doo lax (land for use /older fallow), implying that if the field is good enough, it is ready to be used for farming again. By now the soil has become rich again and the trees are healthy, with lush growth.
The final year is important as a food source for villagers who harvest a variety of shoots (rattan, bamboo, palm and taj duf hse, a special sweet palm) and mushrooms. Hunting is easier with squirrels, rats, palm civets, barking deer, wild boar and duck on the menu. The more mature trees can also be used for construction and heating.
Rotating the fallow means the area is not only used for farming but also becomes a food centre for animals and humans. Through this natural process, the balance of nature is maintained. Humans, animals and plant life co-exist to sustain life.
Prasert Trakansuphakon is the Director of Pgakenyaw (Karen) for Sustainable Development (PASD), and Advisor Board Committee of Asia Indigenous People Pact Foundation (AIPP). He is a specialist of Indigenous Study in Thailand and SEA. Of Karen origin, he is a Doctor in Sociology, founded and was the first director of Inter Mountain Education and Culture in Thailand Association (IMPECT). He also founded the Regional Indigenous Knowledge and Peoples in Mainland SEA (IKAP) and became its Regional Director for seven years. Dr. Trakansuphakon received funding from SWED BIO, Stockholm Resilience Center, SIDA, SWEDEN.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on December 21, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/sustainability-in-action-the-karen-peoples-farming-system/",
"author": "Prasert Trakansuphakon"
} |
1,387 | Sympathy, care fuel Hong Kong protest virality - 360
Rong Wang
Published on January 24, 2022
Police brutality in Hong Kong became a global conversation as the story went viral — but a particular type of tweet had more success than others.
By Rong Wang (Ph.D.), University of Kentucky
When Hong Kong citizens clashed violently with police in the wake of the government’s allowance of extraditions to mainland China, the world watched.
Police brutality in the US, Brazil, Kenya, Chile and Colombia has drawn protest support from all over the globe. In Hong Kong, the repeated use of deployed weapons by police against protesters in the 2019-2020 Anti-Extradition Movement brought the matter to the fore.
The Hong Kong protests also became a global social media phenomenon, drawing widespread attention and commentary.
To understand the strategies behind viral social media posts surrounding the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests, we’ve undertaken an analysis — collecting all the tweets that contained #HongKongPoliceBrutality between October 15, 2019 and January 30, 2020 sampling all the English tweets) in a bid to understand what defines viral tweets to mobilise global support.
The tweets that went viral tended to be framed around sympathy, compassion and care, as opposed to tweets driven by other moral values such as fairness and authority. Social media is an emerging, important battleground for protest movements — harnessing its reach has proven crucial for amplifying messages and attracting attention. As Hong Kong showed, utilising these platforms well can place meaningful pressure on political actors to respond — especially if those posts go viral.
The inquiry is guided by moral foundation theory (MFT), a theoretical framework developed based on the assumption that human beings are grouped by judgments about right or wrong, which can lead to political and religious divisions. The evaluation is based on the five fundamental moral values from MFT that influence how individuals make decisions: care/harm, fairness/cheating, loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion, and purity/degradation
The first moral foundation (care/harm) focuses on intuitions of sympathy, compassion, and nurturance to vulnerable populations, such as children and the elderly. The second moral foundation (fairness/cheating) focuses on the notion of rights and justice — it makes people sensitive to signs of exploitation and motivates them to shun or punish cheaters.
The third moral foundation (loyalty/betrayal) is about forming and maintaining coalitions based on shared identities. It makes people more likely to trust and reward others that they consider as ingroup members, or as one of their own, and thus ostracise those who betray a group. The fourth foundation (authority/subversion) captures the notion of traditional social hierarchies and the need to maintain social order. The last foundation (sanctity/degradation) focuses on spiritual concerns and moral disgust if spiritual values are violated.
In a social movement or digital activism setting, these foundations can take on specific interpretations: care/harm could make people more sensitive to signs of suffering and cruelty, in particular, if vulnerable social groups are targeted.
Fairness/cheating could trigger people to react to signs of injustice, dictatorship, inequality, or the violation of human rights. Loyalty/betrayal could trigger people’s reactions based on their collective identity (e.g., activists, Hongkonger) as an effort to fight against a hegemony party. Social movements often involve challenging power holders and fostering social change. Authority/subversion thus makes people sensitive to transgression (e.g., state repression, abuse of power), and sanctity/degradation has been primarily tied to religious social movements and is used often to justify the purity of a social cause.
Applying MFT to the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests and police brutality is an investigation of what specific values in one’s moral system could result in the virality of social movement messages. The study controlled for other factors that may influence message virality, such as who sent the tweet, where the user was located, how long this user had been on Twitter, how many followers this user had on Twitter, and also how many people this user followed on Twitter.
In other words, looking at all the tweets about Hong Kong police brutality, if someone emphasised in a tweet how the abuse of the police force hurt unarmed students (i.e., using the care/harm value to frame the issue), would that lead to more retweets or more likes on Twitter?
Only three moral values were prominent in the tweets: care/harm, fairness/cheating, and authority/subversion. These three moral foundations had distinctive effects on how likely a tweet goes viral.
If a tweet is framed with care/harm, it is more likely to get retweeted or liked. These tweets usually mentioned weapons used (tear gas, gun, pepper spray), vulnerable people (such as students, protesters, citizens), or the act itself (shot, kill, attacked). For example, the following tweet was retweeted 1,747 times:
“@thetimeusedtobe @LIHKGPicks The Chinese University students are facing Hong Kong police massacre, all of them are in very extremely danger situation now.
#StandWithHongKong #HongKongProtest #HongKongProtester #HongKongPoliceBrutality #HongKongPoliceTerrorism #PoliceStatehk”
A close read of the message shows that it highlighted hurting students and putting them in danger.
However, a tweet framed with fairness/cheating is less likely to receive retweets and likes. For example, the following tweet was only retweeted 71 times:
“They are aiming at journalists and reporters. AGAIN. Another proof that Hong Kong has turned into a complete #PoliceState. For shame.
#HongKongProtests #HongKongPoliceTerrorism #HongKongPoliceBrutality #StandWithHongKong #FightForFreedom
@SolomonYue
@DominicRaab https://t.co/KrhgEnuVK6”
The same negative effect was found from the use of the authority/subversion dimension. For example, the following tweet was retweeted 84 times:
“@business HK Police should be thoroughly investigated by an independent commission chaired by reputable judges from the US/UK reinforced with statutory power to summon and make arrest in order to restore business confidence in #HongKong.”
These lessons matter for grassroots social media campaigns seeking the best way to obtain support on the global stage: the effects of moral values in driving social movement messages virality are not necessarily positive. The moralisation of a social issue (e.g., police brutality) is a complex process confounded with racial and political factors.
The effects are contingent upon audiences who might be divided by their political ideologies. In other words, moral contagion does not happen easily across different social groups on social media. When Twitter is used as a public sphere for debate, it is possible that Twitter users can be divided into pro-democracy, pro-Hong Kong, pro-China, and neutral — the effect of moral framing thus may differ among these users.
Anyone with an account can send a tweet without fact-checking. The example tweets provided above suggest that when audiences read social movement messages, they look for evidence to verify the severity of the violation (such as the use of multimedia or a URL to show photos, videos from offline protests). When weapons and targets were clearly mentioned in a message, anger and outrage are more likely to be triggered.
In the most viral tweets, activists often mentioned politicians, celebrities, journalists, and Western news media agencies to promote their messages. Moral contagion is not the only mechanism to explain how a tweet can go viral. However, by controlling for user demographic information, it was possible to directly assess the direct effects of moral framing.
In a world where social media virality is centered around attention or even sensation, activists may pivot to develop other strategies to mobilise influential accounts for endorsement and support.
Dr. Rong Wang (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Kentucky. Her research examines how to leverage the relationship dynamics among nonprofits, corporations, government agencies, and individual citizens to help solve wicked social issues.
This article was written based on a research article I published with my collaborator, Dr. Wenliu Liu, who is an Assistant Professor of Strategic and Organizational Communication at the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, University of Houston.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on January 24, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/sympathy-care-fuel-hong-kong-protest-virality/",
"author": "Rong Wang"
} |
1,388 | Tackling air pollution at a global scale - 360
Bin Jalaludin
Published on August 15, 2022
Air pollution has no respect for borders. Regional agreements can only go so far. The world needs a global agreement.
In the 1960s, scientists across Europe began to notice that the rain was unusually acidic, denuding forests and poisoning lakes. They traced the problem to the sulphur-dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. And not just their own – for example, sulphur emissions from the UK were causing the forests in Scandinavia to suffer.
By 1979, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) had established a landmark Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution to reduce the toxic emissions. It’s been a slow-moving agreement – it took four years just to be ratified – but over the last 40 years sulphur-dioxide emissions have dramatically fallen. And the agreement’s journey is far from over. With a new taskforce on air pollution set to meet for the first time in October, the lessons from Europe can show the way to a global convention on air pollution.
All pollution can be transboundary. Whether it’s plastic particles in the ocean or nitrogen run-off from farming, pollution has no respect for sovereign borders. Even Australia, with its continental mass and vast surrounding oceans, contributed to global air pollution as a result of the 2019–20 ‘Black Summer’ bushfire emergency.
The global focus of air pollution has shifted from Europe in the late 20th century to Asia. Even as Europe cleaned up its industry, it shifted the production of goods to cheaper labour markets. Asia is now the hotspot for air-pollution emissions.
When ranked according to the pollution from fine soot particles, six of the top 10 cities are in Asia. Nearly 60 percent of all deaths globally attributable to fine particle pollution occurred in India and China. Air pollution typically consists of oxides of nitrogen and sulphur, plus fine particulate matter, ozone, ammonia, heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and persistent organic pollutants. Fine particulate matter has been the most studied air pollutant and is linked to a number of health problems, including preterm births, loss of cognitive function, lung cancer, stroke and heart disease, asthma and diabetes.
A pressing problem in Southeast Asia is the smoke haze from agriculture. Land for farming is often cleared using slash-and-burn practices, and crop residues are burned to clear the way for next year’s crop. This is a particular problem in Indonesian Kalimantan and Sumatra, where large tracts of land are cleared for palm-oil and timber plantations. Indonesia experienced major forest fires in 1997, 2015 and 2019, with the smoke blanketing neighbouring countries for weeks.
As a response to the Indonesian forest fires, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) drafted a multilateral agreement on transboundary smoke haze in 2002. It entered into force in 2003 and Indonesia was the last to ratify it, in 2015. The agreement built upon earlier, smaller agreements on smoke haze.
But such haze is just one example of air pollution. Even with the agreement in place, transboundary air pollution will continue to be a problem in Southeast Asia, and in Asia more generally, until the world agrees to collectively address the problem. Air pollution from China, India, the Middle East and Africa can, and will, affect people living in Asia.
The UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, drafted to tackle sulphur dioxide, has since expanded to also tackle oxides of nitrogen, ammonia, volatile organic compounds, fine particles, persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals. Air quality in Europe, while still imperfect, continues to improve. ASEAN and the wider world could look to the UNECE convention as a template for forging its own framework. Or work could be undertaken to replicate or expand the agreement, which is currently limited to members or observers of the UNECE.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is another example of a global agreement on air pollution. Carbon dioxide is a pollutant, albeit a less immediately toxic one than, say, particulate matter. In 20 years, an agreement on carbon-dioxide emissions moved from putative to legally binding, and along the way the powerful message of the dangers of this pollutant has been clarified and articulated by scientists. In fact, since many of the most toxic air pollutants are associated with fossil-fuel burning, the structures in place to limit global warming will serve to reduce deaths from air pollution at the same time.
Besides these, many other international agreements could form the basis of a global agreement to limit air pollution. For example, the Montreal Protocol has successfully dealt with ozone-depleting substances, the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was drafted to prevent the export of toxic waste and has been expanded to plastics, and the Helsinki Convention limited pollution to the Baltic Sea from neighbouring states.
The need for a global agreement is such that in December 2021, the executive body of the UNECE convention on air pollution created a new working group, the Task Force and Forum for International Collaboration on Air Pollution, to “promote international collaboration towards preventing and reducing air pollution to improve air quality globally”. It aims to take a “one atmosphere” approach to addressing international air pollution. The taskforce will hold its first meeting in October 2022, discussing such issues as “incentives and mechanisms for air quality management across administrative borders”.
Air pollution is a huge problem. It’s linked to one in nine deaths globally, according to the UN. The world has shown it can create effective international agreements that tackle pollution problems. The taskforce for international collaboration on air pollution is just the first step. If the world moved more quickly towards a global agreement on transboundary air pollution it could save lives and create cleaner waters and land.
Bin Jalaludin is a public health physician and conjoint professor in the School of Population Health at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He is also a lead investigator at the Centre for Air pollution, energy and health Research (CAR), a National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre of Research Excellence. He declares no conflict of interest.
This article has been republished to align with the International Day of Clean Air. It was first published on August 8, 2022.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on August 15, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/tackling-air-pollution-at-a-global-scale/",
"author": "Bin Jalaludin"
} |
2,100 | Taiwan is reinventing how diplomacy works - 360
Adnan Rasool
Published on April 27, 2023
The lack of official diplomatic allies isn’t stopping Taiwan from finding ways of winning friends and influencing people.
Taiwan has lost more diplomatic allies in the last seven years than it has since it established itself — just 13 countriesare left maintaining official relations with the self-governed island.
Beijing has aggressively tried to isolate Taiwan by enticing its allies away from it. Honduras is the more recent country to support the One China policy. The numbers could dwindle even further if Paraguay, the last remaining ally in South America, aligns with its larger trading partner following this month’s presidential elections.
Taiwan’s loss of international friendships has accelerated since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016 and refused to acknowledge the 1992 ‘One China different interpretations’ consensus with Beijing.
Losing allies has not impacted Taiwan’s global standing as much as you’d think. Significant investments for countries like Paraguay to maintain the façade of diplomatic relationships could instead be better served for other outreach purposes such as expanding the number of Taiwan Economic and Cultural Offices around the world, especially in Southeast Asia.
There was always an understanding that China could, and eventually would, come after formal allies and convince them to switch sides, so Taiwan needed another way to maintain its relationships.
Taiwan laid the groundwork for a foreign policy that goes beyond traditional formal diplomatic norms with the introduction of the original Go South policy under President Lee Teng-hui in 1994, although it has not been the central pillar of its foreign policy until very recently.
The concept of smart diplomacy — a mix of soft power and niche expertise — is one that countries have successfully used to engage in the international system. With a more integrated international system, diplomacy is no longer limited to having formal relationships with countries. The focus is more on building business-to-business as well as people-to-people relationships — an element part and parcel of Taiwanese foreign policy for decades.
The harsh reality for Taiwan is that international recognition is a long-term goal with an unclear timeline. But it does not mean the Taiwanese economy, its people, its culture and identity exist in a vacuum. By creating foreign policies that involve interpersonal relationships, Taiwan can make inroads in ways that would be impossible if formal recognition was the sole focus.
While China was going through years of reforms with Western companies struggling to make a breakthrough on the mainland, Taiwanese investments already there played a part in the rapid industrialisation and knowledge transfer that eventually made China what it is. Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, Taiwan kept up its relationships with China and most of Southeast Asia by supporting businesses to expand Taiwanese footprints in the region. This eventually led to something Taiwan craved even more than formal diplomatic relations: an acknowledgement of its unique status and an identity that was distinct from China.
Person-to-person diplomacy has been the central pillar of contemporary Taiwanese policy throughout the Tsai administration. Her introduction of the New Southbound Policy in 2016 shifted the focus from trying to convince potential partner countries to grant Taiwan formal diplomatic acceptance to building connections based on mutual benefit through business, trade, sharing of expertise and regionalism. Taiwan is a friend countries did not know they needed but are happy to have, is the crux of the policy — as one diplomat explained during its launch.
Take the case of India, one of the largest countries in the region that does not formally recognise Taiwan. With a volatile border with China already an issue, India is a major regional power that is highly unlikely to acknowledge Taiwan diplomatically beyond what is part of the 1992 One China consensus. But over the last few years, Taiwanese firms and organisations have been rapidly increasing their footprint in India, with organisations like Foxconn investing diversifying their supply chains away from China.
With a global microchip shortage, others like the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company — Taiwan’s biggest company and the world’s largest producer of microchips — are moving production to India as well. Cross-cultural exchanges have also steadily increased with organisations like Taiwan Asia Exchange Foundation leading the charge through civil society exchanges. The number of Indian students in Taiwan has also steadily increased over the years. All this is happening despite a lack of formal diplomatic relations between India and Taiwan.
Taiwan’s ability to cultivate relationships in India beyond official government recognition is a testament to the ways in which diplomacy is evolving beyond traditional embassies. Smart diplomacy is significantly more cost effective and agile than traditional diplomacy, and does not require the kind of manpower investment formal relationships require.
Even if Taiwan were to lose more of its formal allies, it will continue to make friends — those who never knew they needed one like Taiwan.
Adnan Rasool is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Adnan’s work focuses on soft power and foreign policy of small states in the Indo-Pacific. He declares no conflict of interest.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on April 27, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/taiwan-is-reinventing-how-diplomacy-works/",
"author": "Adnan Rasool"
} |
2,101 | Taiwan's quest for legitimacy - 360
Tasha Wibawa
Published on April 27, 2023
On the heels of losing another diplomatic ally, Taiwan continues to win friends and influence others in the only way it knows how: through its soft power.
For many countries, the concept of ‘One China’ represents a distant diplomatic stoush that is best left alone. For Taiwan, it’s an existential threat.
This threat has never been more apparent than last week, when the Chinese navy, the world’s largest, conducted encirclement drills around the small island nation as a “serious warning” to pro-independence politicians in Taipei.
But while China continues to expand its presence and influence in the North Pacific and beyond, Taiwan’s list of allies is dwindling.
Taiwan currently maintains official diplomatic relations with just 13 countries, having lost nine allies in the past seven years. And this month, it might lose another, pending results of elections in Paraguay.
“The lack of formal diplomatic allies contributes to what we might call the ‘disabling environment’ in which Taiwan exists,” said Gary Rawnsely, Professor of Public Diplomacy at the University of Lincoln.
“It is not a member of the United Nations — no one can enter the UN buildings in New York or Geneva using a Taiwan passport for identification.”
Alliances allow countries to coordinate offensive and defensive military actions and share costs. But most importantly, they signal a commitment to working together based on shared interests.
For Taiwan, alliances also mean acknowledgment of its legitimacy, as China claims Taiwan as its own under the ‘One China’ policy.
Taiwan has been independently governed since 1949, but Beijing has repeatedly claimed it will “unify” the island even if this means using force.
There has always been an understanding that China will eventually come after Taiwan’s formal allies and convince them to switch sides, according to Adnan Rasool, assistant professor of political science at The University of Tennessee at Martin.
“So Taiwan needed another way to maintain its relationships,” he said.
Taiwan’s foreign policy goes beyond traditional diplomatic norms in the form of “smart diplomacy” — a “mix of soft power and niche expertise … [focusing] on building business-to-business as well as people-to-people relationships.”
For example, Taiwan’s use of digital and social media during Tsai Ing-wen’s presidency has been on opposite sides of the spectrum from China’s heavily censored global media platforms.
Under President Tsai, the expansion of Taiwan’s Southbound Policy represents a significant economic, political and cultural push to strengthen the shared values across the region and grow Taiwan’s influence, according to Professor Rawnsley.
Taiwan’s democratic position — a huge soft power drawcard — places it in stark contrast to the mainland, particularly under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s regime.
“Taiwan’s democratic rule is frequently a factor in justifying security commitments — it adds a moral consideration on top of Taiwan’s strategic location and crucial role in the global manufacturing of semiconductor chips,” said Jie Chen, associate professor at the University of Western Australia.
As Taiwan braces itself to potentially lose another ally, experts said it’s unlikely that Taiwan’s international influence will change any time soon, despite China’s efforts and military might.
Editors Note: In the story “TAIWAN SOFT POWER” sent at: 24/04/2023 10:38.
This is a corrected repeat. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on April 27, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/taiwans-quest-for-legitimacy/",
"author": "Tasha Wibawa"
} |
2,102 | Taiwan’s soft power hard for Beijing to match - 360
Gary Rawnsley
Published on April 27, 2023
Taiwan is smaller and has less access to normal diplomatic avenues but does have one advantage over mainland China.
In March 2023, Honduras ended its formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognised the People’s Republic of China. This leaves Taiwan with just 13 diplomatic allies, including the Vatican. Nine countries have severed relations since Tsai Ing-wen, representing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was elected President of Taiwan in May 2016.
The DPP is considered ‘pro-independence’, meaning it is the political party most likely to advocate and declare Taiwan’s formal independence from China, a move the Communist government in Beijing – which still regards Taiwan as a ‘breakaway’ or ‘renegade’ province of China – promises will carry severe retribution.
The lack of formal diplomatic allies contributes to what we might call the ‘disabling environment’ in which Taiwan exists. It is not a member of the United Nations (no one can enter the UN buildings in New York or Geneva using a Taiwan passport for identification). Neither is Taiwan a member of other international organisations, including Interpol and the World Health Organization, even though the British Medical Journal acknowledges “Taiwan was the first nation to implement proactive measures against the novel coronavirus” in December 2019.
Taiwan must compete for attention and influence with its much larger neighbour, which contests and even threatens its very existence. Washington DC’s commitment to ‘strategic ambiguity’ means Taiwan cannot count on support from the US if China decides to launch military action against the island.
However, Taiwan does possess a significant advantage over mainland China in terms of its soft power capacity.
Soft power, defined broadly as the attraction of values, ideas and culture, is located in Taiwan’s liberal-democratic political culture: in the competitive multi-party elections for all positions in national and local government; in the frequent alternation of political power in the Legislative Yuan (Taiwan’s parliament) and in the Presidential Palace; in the vibrant media voicing opinions from across the political spectrum free from the threat of political interference; in the freedom of religion and the growing recognition of minority and indigenous rights and cultures; in the vigorous and autonomous civil society that mobilises and protests against government decisions and behaviour; and in the power of example, such as Taiwan being the first place in Asia to recognise same-sex marriage and the first in the world to hold a Pride march during the Covid pandemic.
In 2009, the conviction of President Chen Shui-bian and the life sentence handed down (subsequently reduced to 20 years) on charges of embezzlement, bribery and money laundering communicated a powerful narrative that not even former presidents are above the law. Taiwan’s democratic political culture demands transparency in its legislative processes and institutions, and accountability when controversial decisions are taken or when political figures behave inappropriately.
In short, Taiwan’s soft power communicates a direct contrast to the way it’s more authoritarian neighbour exercises its authority.
Taiwan’s democratic political culture makes it attractive to other democracies, especially in the United States.
During her transit through the US in April 2023, President Tsai met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy spoke of Taiwan and the US working together ‘to promote economic freedom, democracy, peace and stability’. McCarthy added: “We must continue to promote our shared values on the world stage.”
Using similar language, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who also met with President Tsai, revealed: “We … discussed our shared commitment to democracy and freedom.” Reflecting on the meetings during her transit, Tsai said: “We once again find ourselves in a world where democracy is under threat and the urgency of keeping the beacon of freedom shining cannot be overstated.”
This agreement around ‘shared values’ provides Taiwan with soft power that means the fate of Taiwan is never far from the top of the US’s foreign policy agenda. Moreover, opinions polls conducted in the US by YouGov in March 2023 suggest that Americans support both Taiwan and the US’s need to defend Taiwan against Chinese aggression if necessary.
This comes at a time when Taiwan is visible in the world’s media – on the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera – covering news of President Tsai’s transit through the US and the Chinese military exercises in the Taiwan Strait that followed. But coverage does not just focus on Taiwan’s democracy under threat from China; it also highlights the strategic importance of Taiwan, especially in terms of its production of semiconductors that drive global computing. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company produces 84 percent of the world’s semiconductors prompting Time magazine to publish in October 2022 the headline: ‘The Chips that Make Taiwan the Center of the World’.
Soft power is not something that governments can strategise because it is a natural by-product of how they behave and the political culture in which they operate. To maximise soft power capacity the Taiwan government must maintain its democratic credentials and continue to govern ethically, with full transparency and accountability.
If the Democratic Progressive Party loses the presidency in the election scheduled for January 2024 it is likely the result will be uncontested and considered legitimate and there will be a smooth transfer of power to the winning party. If that happens, this will be the fourth such transfer of presidential power since direct elections were introduced in 1996. Again, there is a clear contrast with Beijing where in 2018 President Xi Jinping abandoned the constitutional stipulation that the president could not serve more than two terms (in March 2023 Xi was re-elected by the National People’s Congress for a third term).
It is unlikely the limitations to Taiwan’s international influence will change any time soon. The reality of international politics is that while Taiwan has moral authority and legitimacy because of its democratic political culture, mainland China retains an amount of hard diplomatic, economic and military power and influence that Taiwan is unable to match.
Instead, if Taiwan continued to develop its public diplomacy it could communicate its soft power capacity to a global audience, increase Taiwan’s visibility and gather moral support. As late as 2016 Taiwan’s global communications struggled in terms of structure and content, prompting the description of Taiwan as ‘soft power rich, public diplomacy poor’.
During Tsai Ing-wen’s presidency, Taiwan has developed a more sophisticated communication mechanism that embraces digital and social media and which provides an alternative narrative to the one offered by China’s global media platforms. Under President Tsai, expansion of Taiwan’s ‘Southbound Policy’ represents a significant economic, political, and cultural push to strengthen ‘shared values’ in the region and grow Taiwan’s influence in its neighbourhood.
While Taiwan now has a stronger presence in the international information and communication space, it needs to use it to maximise the projection of its soft power capacity. Instead of engaging with critical and often hostile narratives from the mainland, leaving Taiwan looking defensive, a stronger focus on telling Taiwan’s story to the world, emphasising Taiwan’s democratic credentials and its rich cultural heritage, would let audiences draw their own conclusions about the regime on the other side of the Taiwan Strait.
In strategic communications, actions always speak louder than words and Taiwan’s soft power is the power of example. Taiwan may have limited capacity in the diplomatic landscape, but its presence in the soft power space can more than compensate.
Gary D. Rawnsley is Head of the School of Social and Political Sciences and Professor of Public Diplomacy at the University of Lincoln, UK. He was the founding Dean of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) and returned there in 2018 as the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. His most recent publications are The Research Handbook of Political Propaganda co-edited with Yiben Ma and Kruakae Pothong (Edward Elgar 2021) and the forthcoming second edition of the Routledge Handbook of Soft Power (2024), edited with Naren Chitty and Lilian Ji.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on April 27, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/taiwans-soft-power-hard-for-beijing-to-match/",
"author": "Gary Rawnsley"
} |
2,103 | Taking psilocybin for science - 360
Devon Stoliker, Adeel Razi
Published on October 11, 2022
Sixty healthy volunteers took magic mushrooms in a lab, and scientists recorded their brains during their experience.
Approximately half of the Australian population will experience a mental health disorder during their lifetime, and scientists are turning to an unlikely place in the search for treatment.
Researchers at Monash University are scanning the brains of healthy adults under the influence of psychedelic drugs. They aim to identify the pathways in the brain that underlie the effects of these substances to build an understanding of how different parts of the brain are connected in general. PsiConnect (comprising Psilocybin, Connectivity and Context) is the first imaging trial of participants on psychedelics in Australia, and with 60 participants, is one of the largest psychedelic imaging trials worldwide.
Many kinds of psychedelics exist, derived from different plants, animals, and fungi. When a person takes a psychoactive substance, there is a temporary reorganisation of brain connectivity that alters perception. It can cause hallucinations and can change self-perception.
Counter-intuitively, psychedelic-induced distortions of perception can have a positive effect in clinical patients with dysfunctional forms of thinking — such as self-limiting beliefs and pervasive pessimism. By temporarily deconstructing perception in the context of therapy, psychedelics may help people find alternate ways to improve their self-perception and belief. It is these changes that have reinvigorated interest in the therapeutic potential of psychoactive substances.
While some researchers argue that psychedelic therapeutic effects derive from the experience of altered consciousness, others suggest this may not be the case and seek to separate the therapeutic effects from the psychoactive experience. It may be that both the non-psychoactive properties and psychoactive properties of these substances contribute to their therapeutic effectiveness.
However, before psychedelics are used to treat a specific mental health diagnosis, some potential problems need to be considered. For example, psychedelics may be harmful to people who have a genetic predisposition to psychosis. Rigorous scientific study is needed if psychedelics are to be integrated into publicly available therapy in a realistic, safe and lasting way.
At the Monash University Computational Neuroscience Lab, the ongoing psychedelic imaging trial uses synthesised psilocybin — the magic ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms’ — supplied by Usona Institute, a medical research organisation. The trial uses a fixed dose of 19 mg, an amount based on prior studies and recommendations of researchers, to reliably create the psychedelic effects of psilocybin at a level that is generally well tolerated by healthy adults, regardless of gender or body weight.
Participants have two sessions of brain scans at the Biomedical Imaging facility at Monash, one before and one after the psilocybin. They take the drug as a pill in a comfortable non-clinical setting at the Turner Institute’s BrainPark, in the company of the researcher, study doctor and support staff. Most people start feeling the effects of psilocybin about an hour later, so scanning begins.
First, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) takes high-resolution pictures of the whole brain, including deeply located subcortical parts, and measures how that activity changes over time. The researchers also use an electroencephalograph (EEG) after the MRI, because it can measure millisecond changes in brain connectivity, although with much lower (spatial) resolution.
The study also investigates how context plays a role in the effects of psilocybin, by providing different music as the scanning takes place. The researchers will finally debrief the participants, to better understand the mechanisms of perception by associating subjective reports with the observed changes.
The researchers have so far found wide variability in participants’ experiences. Some participants report melting and shifting patterns while their eyes are open; others report no visual alterations. Some participants report purely bodily experiences, while others describe accounts of mystical-like journeys. Some participants disclosed a sense of integration, and dissolved separation between themselves and the environment that entailed euphoria; while others experienced these changes with varying emotions.
At this early stage, the research suggests that the quality rather than the intensity of psilocybin experiences may have a greater bearing on psychological changes. Over time, the work hopes to better understand the biological factors that determine the psychedelic response to a given dose, and how mindset and setting can be optimised to aid therapeutic outcomes. Ultimately asking volunteers to take psilocybin for science could help us better understand the brain and how the brain allows us to make sense of ourselves and the world.
If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, visit Find a helpline for free, confidential support from a real person over phone, text or online chat in your country.
Devon Stoliker is a neuroscientist and consciousness researcher at Monash University, investigating neural connectivity changes under psychedelics and the influence of extra-pharmacological variables on psychedelic experiences and therapeutic outcomes.
Dr Adeel Razi is an Associate Professor, NHMRC Investigator (Emerging Leadership) and Director of the Computational Neuroscience Laboratory at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health and Monash Biomedical Imaging.
The PsiConnect trial is funded by following grants awarded to A/Prof Adeel Razi: CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar Fellowship, Turner Institute’s Strategic Grant, and Monash Academic Supports Fund.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article has been republished following the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) announcement that from July 1 this year, medicines containing the psychedelic substances psilocybin (found in magic mushrooms) and MDMA can be prescribed by authorised psychiatrists for mental health treatment. It was first published on October 10, 2022.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on October 11, 2022 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/taking-psilocybin-for-science/",
"author": "Devon Stoliker, Adeel Razi"
} |
2,104 | Taking the fight against disease to mosquitoes - 360
Gregor Devine
Published on February 19, 2024
Many mosquito-borne diseases can best be tackled by targeting the mosquitoes that spread them.
Scientists have a new weapon in the fight against mosquito-borne diseases.
They’re releasing male mosquitoes into the wild to mate with wild females, but there’s a sting in the tale.
These males have been manipulated so that the offspring resulting from their pairings do not develop — they die before they can ever bite or reproduce.
As a result, the entire population over the release area crashes and the chances of disease transmission diminish.
It’s just one approach being tested to stem the spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.
Mosquito-borne diseases kill 700,000 people each year. Malaria alone is responsible for more than 400,000 deaths. Most of those who die are under five years old.
There are a staggering 100 million cases of dengue every year, killing 40,000 people annually and costing billions in hospital care and lost earnings for the debilitated. Other viral diseases spread by mosquitoes include chikungunya, Zika, yellow fever, West Nile fever and Japanese encephalitis.
The battle to bring these vector-borne diseases under control has been going on for over a century, but many of them still have no effective vaccines or curative drugs.
Managing disease therefore involves attempting to control transmission by targeting the mosquito.
The problem is, conventional insecticidal means of control are failing due to the evolution of insecticide resistance and the difficulty of targeting insecticides effectively in modern, messy urban conurbations.
More sustainable, inventive solutions are needed.
The elegance of the male modification and release approach lies in the fact that it is the released male that seeks out wild females in order to induce sterility. The approach is species-specific and highly targeted in time and space.
This is in stark contrast to insecticide application, which requires a human operator to spray the right place at the right time with chemicals that can impact many non-target species in the ecosystem.
One male release technique, developed by Oxitec, involves the release of genetically modified transgenic males that express a gene inhibitor that interrupts mosquito development. This is turned off when the mosquitoes are fed a specific chemical in the laboratory.
So, while those laboratory-reared mosquitoes reproduce normally, the release of eggs in the wild means that only transgenic males emerge. When they mate with wild-type females, all the offspring die before reaching adulthood.
Releases are now underway in several countries. The approach is species-specific (currently targeting the dengue vector Aedes aegypti). However, releases need to be repeated frequently as mosquito populations recover or re-establish through immigration.
This genetic modification technique is self-limiting, meaning the gene dies with the offspring of released males and does not persist in the population.
This contrasts with other genetic approaches that aim to push genes through an entire population by linking them to ‘gene drive‘ technologies.
In their earliest iterations these promised to eradicate entire species but currently, eradication is no longer their major focus.
Rather, the emphasis is on ‘population replacement’, where genes that impede disease transmission are forced into wild type populations. The mosquito remains, but in a benign form.
The self-limiting genetic male release strategy joins the sterile insect technique and the incompatible insect technique as non-insecticidal, male-release approaches to mosquito control.
The sterile insect technique uses the mass release of irradiated males to mate with wild type females: resulting in no viable offspring.
Similarly, the incompatible insect technique exploits the fact that males infected with the bacterium Wolbachia are incompatible with wild-type females.
All three male-release techniques are now being trialled in the field and aim for elimination, or at least major suppression, of local populations.
Not all species will be amenable to this approach.
Currently, all male release strategies target Ae. aegypti which, crucially, is globally distributed, easy to rear and has limited dispersal capabilities. This makes it amenable to mass production and mass release in patterns that ensure high coverage of the wild-type female population.
Notably, Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can also be used in ‘population replacement’ strategies to create females that are resistant to disease. To date, this is one of the most promising means of transmission control in this species.
Elimination is the reduction to zero in a specified geographic area. Eradication is defined as the permanent reduction to zero of a population: the species wipe-out.
Species eradication is only possible with the release of gene drives facilitating the spread of lethal genes. This approach to mosquito control is fraught with ethical and ecological concerns.
Ethicists may consider whether the deliberate extinction of a species is justified, while ecologists recognise that mosquitoes have roles as pollinators and as food sources for other invertebrates and vertebrates.
However, many habitats contain myriad mosquito species, and other small insects, so the local elimination or eradication of single species might not make a great difference to the ecosystem.
Humans have eradicated countless species in the last century, mostly unknowingly and largely in relation to rainforest destruction, so perhaps it’s not unreasonable to consider deliberately eradicating one or two more, particularly where they occupy ecological niches that are already very degraded.
As an example, the Ae. aegypti is the ‘cockroach’ of the mosquito world — highly adapted to the urban environment, reliant almost entirely on human blood for sustenance and proliferating in cities. Perhaps it would not be missed.
The future looks promising in the fight against mosquito-borne diseases.
In the short term there are some useful advances in personal protection from bites afforded by new classes of repellents.
In the medium term it’s likely that suppression strategies involving self-limiting genetic modifications, Wolbachia infection and irradiation will be extended to a small number of our most important mosquito vectors of disease.
In the longer term, there will continue to be a push for expanding the list of vaccine-preventable diseases — removing the need to worry about the vector at all.
But climate heating, globalisation, land use change and urbanisation will continue to put humans and mosquitoes in direct conflict, and will encourage the development of transmission pathways for new or emerging pathogens.
Mosquitoes have been around since the Jurassic, and although we might aim for local elimination or even eradication of some species, the Culicidae and the pathogens that adapt with them, will always be a threat.
Associate Professor Gregor Devine is a medical entomologist and Group Leader of the Mosquito Control Laboratory at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. His group focuses on mosquito vectors of disease with an emphasis on control, surveillance, ecology and investigations of vectorial capacity.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on February 19, 2024 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/taking-the-fight-against-disease-to-mosquitoes/",
"author": "Gregor Devine"
} |
2,105 | Tanks for the memories: How Putin has changed Russian film - 360
Stephen M Norris
Published on March 10, 2023
Two films about tanks highlight how Vladimir Putin and his cronies rule Russian culture with an iron fist.
It’s no secret that Vladimir Putin is obsessed with World War II. He justified the invasion of Ukraine by claiming Russia is “liberating” the territory from “neo-Nazis” and “far-right nationalists”. Putin has called on Russian citizens to remember “the sacrifices our people had to make to defeat Nazism”.
What may not be well known is how the culture of the Putin era produced in Russia has changed over the last ten years. The Kremlin has harnessed culture to make it serve the interests of the state. The Russian Ministry of Culture has outlined patriotic programs for all spheres of cultural life.
Movies have been particularly important in this new agenda: during the last decade dozens of films aimed to promote Russia’s history, culture, and values have saturated Russian screens. World War II movies are a prominent part of this cinematic assault, offering narratives that dovetail with Putin’s speeches invoking the victory over Nazi Germany.
One part of the myth of victory that Putin has tapped into involves tanks, specifically the T-34 tank. War memorials that dot the Russian countryside often include T-34s. And not just in Russia: T-34s can be found in the major Great Patriotic War memorials in Kyiv, Mariupol and elsewhere in Ukraine.
The decision to supply American- and German-made tanks to bolster Ukraine’s armed forces has brought renewed attention to the T-34 myth. Putin referenced it in his speech to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory at Stalingrad, when he claimed the West had “a plan to fight Russia on Ukrainian land” using German tanks.
Two of the recent Russian blockbuster movies about World War II feature Soviet tanks. Both appeared in 2018. The films – Tanks (originally called Tanks for Stalin) and T-34 – help us understand how Putin-era culture has evolved since 2000.
When Putin first became President in 2000, his cultural policies were largely in line with those elsewhere in Europe. The then Minister of Culture, Mikhail Shvydkoi, oversaw a cultural program which aimed to use state money to help support industries, including cinema, that had suffered during the economic crises of the 1990s. Yet the Putin state did not place any constraints on the films that received state support. Many did promote a general patriotic culture that Putin in turn benefited from, but others were more critical in their approaches. We might best call this era Putin One culture.
When Putin returned to the presidency in 2012 amid massive protests over voter fraud, the Kremlin overhauled its approach to culture. His new minister of culture, Vladimir Medinsky, adopted an approach to state funds that resembled Soviet-era practices. The ministry put out a list every year of “preferred topics” for filmmakers and then awarded funding. Medinsky’s office therefore became more of a ministry of propaganda, one where the state’s messages could be spread across various media. We might best call this Putin Two culture.
Tanks and T-34 benefited from this new environment. Both received Medinsky’s personal blessing. Both also received funding from the Russian Military-Historical Society, an organisation also created in 2012 to help foster patriotism in Putin’s Russia. Medinsky heads the society and, along with Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu, used it to further the aims of his ministry.
Tanks is ostensibly about Mikhail Koshkin, the actual creator of the T-34, and how he drove his creation from his hometown of Kharkiv to Moscow in 1940. Beyond this basic plot, however, the film contained scenes that sprang more from Medinsky’s mind than from the past. Koshkin and his crew had to battle spies wanting to steal his plans, Nazis somehow embedded in Ukraine at the time and Cossack nationalists.
One prominent film critic wrote that the film had less to do with historical facts than the sort of “correct myths” Medinsky wanted to propagate. The film tanked at the box office, mostly because of the heavy-handed propagandistic messaging.
T-34 was a hit, earning US$37 million, the 10th best performance all-time for a domestic film at the Russian box office. The plot is pure fantasy but more fun and less overtly propagandistic. A Russian tank commander fights against overwhelming odds before being captured and imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. There he is tasked with building a T-34 for his enemies so they can benefit from this Soviet creation.
Instead, he escapes, battles his foes again, and wins. T-34 is not without its problematic elements. The hero is Russian. He is supported by a “good Ukrainian” (who dies) and a “good Belarusian” (who does not), thus subtly encoding the film with the notion that Ukrainians and Belarusians are at their patriotic best when helping their Russian brethren.
The tank films are just two of innumerable films that have helped propagate the Putinist state’s messages about patriotism again and again. Medinsky left his office in early 2020: he still serves as a special assistant to Putin and has been tapped to oversee the new historical content for the state’s education system. The culture of state propaganda he helped to construct remains firmly in place.
So too does the Russian Military-Historical Society, which has opened offices in the occupied regions of eastern Ukraine. And the Ministry of Culture, now headed by Olga Lyubimova, announced 17 “priority topics” for state film funding in 2023.
Among them were calls to make films about “peacekeeping missions of Russia,” “Russian historic victories,” movies that commemorated the 80th anniversary of Victory in World War II, and how Soviet soldiers engaged in a “liberation mission”.
Putin Two culture lives on.
Stephen Norris is the Walter E. Havighurst Professor of Russian History and Director of the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies at Miami University in Ohio. His research focuses on Russian wartime propaganda, Soviet propaganda, and contemporary Russian cinema.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on March 10, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/tanks-for-the-memories-how-putin-has-changed-russian-film/",
"author": "Stephen M Norris"
} |
2,106 | Tapping into water solutions to close development gap - 360
Tony Wong
Published on November 21, 2023
Despite the best intentions, talk from the top hasn’t sufficiently trickled down to widespread actions. A water initiative is trying to help change that.
Attend any United Nations conference tackling climate or sustainable development and it’s in the air: a palpable sense of urgency. In July 2023, at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the UN Headquarters in New York was abuzz with delegates eager to accelerate progress on the lagging Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
But their ambitious statements and frameworks to address what needs to be done are still largely disconnected from what individual nations can do to put it all into action in the mainstream.
The UN knows that climate change is “one of the greatest challenges of our time”. Following the 2023 SDG Summit, the General Assembly affirmed that “mitigation of and adaptation to climate change represent an immediate and urgent priority”. But, as we pass the midpoint of ‘Agenda 2030‘, a global initiative for peace and prosperity, the reality is sobering. All nations are falling short of their SDG targets. Progress on most SDGs are either moving too slowly or are regressing below the baseline set in 2015. There is only seven years left to deliver transformational change.
The water sector has an important leadership role to play in climate adaptation efforts. Water is essential to life. The effects of climate change often manifest through water-related extreme events, like floods and droughts.
Instead of tackling water challenges in isolation, it would help to embrace the complexity. Many past efforts to address issues such as water security have time and time again yielded unintended consequences and suboptimal solutions. The operating rules around projects like dams can drastically change downstream waterways, wetlands and floodplains.
Water-sensitive cities like Kunshan in China and Singapore integrate water supply, sanitation, flood protection and environmental protection through urban design. This creates a roadmap to transform cities and towns and strengthen their climate resilience.
To put into action climate initiatives that resonate at a range of scales, cities have to be reimagined. Land has to be used better, investments have to be made in infrastructure with diverse water sources, using recycled water, stormwater and rainwater. Reimagining cities means managing them as water supply catchments.
One of the biggest gaps to close is between the high-level statements at forums like the UN and actual execution of those ideas in cities, towns and rural areas.
Cities are complex systems and magnify many of the key challenges captured in the 17 SDGs.
They are also constantly transforming through urban renewal and new greenfield development. Investment in city-shaping infrastructure provides the chance to meet the challenges of climate change and the aspirations of Agenda 2030.
Yet governments continue to plan cities and infrastructure with fragmented operation and governance, perpetuated by outdated institutional structures and practices. Sometimes, water management is spread across many government departments of agencies, splitting responsibility and adding bureaucratic red tape.
Cities could be designed or retrofittedto provide ecosystem services, like water treatment, biodiversity, habitat and urban heat mitigation for the built and adjoining natural environments. Cities do this by integrating urban landscape design with sustainable urban water management, like using parks and gardens as sites for floodwater storage to mitigate the flood risk of the surrounding urban environment.
To foster sustainability and resilience in cities, governments can create enabling policies, build professional capacity and nurture community awareness and empowerment to support innovation.
Poor and vulnerable communities are disproportionately affected by climate change, especially those in informal settlements. Addressing their plight is not easy or built into existing development action.
A key value of Agenda 2030 is to ensure no one is left behind, but the concerted focus on accelerating progress on the SDGs risks widening an already-large inequality gap.
One could argue conventional approaches in the past have explicitly excluded informal settlements, such as slums, from the beneficial health and environmental outcomes of mainstream urbanisation, due to the challenges and cost of rolling out infrastructure.
Field-based research program RISE (Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environment) is an effort to address this. RISE is developing a viable and cost-effective way to use decentralised sanitation. The program seeks to improve living conditions in urban informal settlements, situations where traditional approaches haven’t worked.
RISE’s water-sensitive approach combines engineering with nature-based technology to provide tailored solutions to water management.
Some initiatives address issues at its source: safely managing sanitation — such as preserving water spaces for bathing or recreation — and improving drainage to protect low-lying settlements from flood risks.
Other initiatives help diversify water sources: many developed economies are harnessing more water sources like rainwater, stormwater and recycled water to build greater supply resilience.
Changing behaviours through education and awareness can help strengthen water-sensitive cities. Poor hygiene can be a key transmission pathway for disease. Good hygiene practices to reduce exposure include handwashing with soap, safe water storage, good food handling practices and solid waste management.
RISE’s initiatives yield return on investment in ways that go beyond the traditional metrics used to measure water and sewerage, flood mitigation and drainage. Instead, it reaches wider — climate mitigation, climate adaptation and community livability — to take an interconnected approach to a multi-faceted environmental challenge.
Tony Wong is Professor of Sustainable Development at Monash University, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (FTSE) and 2018 IWA Global Water laureate. He will be attending COP28, serving as Australia Water Envoy, connecting climate and water actions.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on November 21, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/tapping-into-water-solutions-to-close-development-gap/",
"author": "Tony Wong"
} |
2,107 | Targeting infectious diseases - 360
Suzannah Lyons
Published on February 19, 2024
Global cooperation, resources and sustained efforts are crucial in the fight against infectious diseases.
The world faces many health threats from the continuing burden of infectious diseases like tuberculosis and malaria, as well as the resurgence of measles and the rising number of cases of dengue.
Yet there is hope that through applying the lessons we’ve learned from past outbreaks and the ongoing development of new tools to better prevent, detect, track and treat diseases, progress can be made.
That could be by looking at how to better control, eliminate or, when possible, eradicate a disease directly. And in the case of mosquito-borne diseases, targeting the mosquitoes that spread disease themselves.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on February 19, 2024 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/targeting-infectious-diseases/",
"author": "Suzannah Lyons"
} |
2,108 | Tea and a quiet word: How women influence peace talks in Myanmar - 360
Julia Palmiano Federer, Laura Rose O'Connor
Published on March 8, 2023
Myanmar’s formal peace efforts have traditionally involved only men. It’s time for that to change.
It may not be obvious to observers but women are playing a quiet, but important role in attempts to bring Myanmar’s long-warring parties to some form of peace.
Members of the Women’s League of Burma, invited as observers to the formal peace process between 2011 and 2015, informally engaged with the predominantly male negotiators through “hallway meetings”, bringing male counterparts tea and food as a vehicle to engage.
Myanmar has been bedevilled by internal conflict since its independence in 1948. Peace negotiations over the decades have been led by men and the elite classes. It has begged many parties to ask: “where are the women?”
Stopping the conflict between Myanmar’s ethnic armed resistance groups and the military dictatorship, which overthrew a military-approved civilian government two years ago, has been overshadowed by the urgent humanitarian, political and economic catastrophe brought on by the coup.
While the prospect of a formal, or “Track One”, peace process involving diplomats at the government level is slim, civil society groups, specifically those led by women, continue to play central roles in sustaining peace in both formal and informal avenues developed during the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement process between 2011-2015.
Bringing sharper focus to this push for more meaningful participation is essential in supporting women’s involvement at formal talks and making visible the ongoing key roles women play in multi-track diplomacy which consists of three levels, albeit in parallel, informal and underground formats.
There are three levels to multi-track diplomacy. Women have been absent from Track One, which is the formal process. Track Two is understood as the “in-between” which engages influential parties in discreet and largely off-record talks and is often facilitated by third parties. Many of these activities take place at the civil society organisation or community-based organisation level, or what would be termed the Track Three level, or the community level.
The question of “where are the women?” therefore could best be applied to the Track One level, to better challenge the misconception that women have not played a role within the wider Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement peace process.
Women’s organisations have been influential in both advocating for women’s inclusion and amplified voices within the process and in advocating for women’s protection and inter-ethnic cooperation in Myanmar. During the peace process, women’s civil society organisations have been active through coalitions that have served as the primary platform for several women’s groups in Myanmar across ethnic nationalities to meet and put forth demands. In 2016, it put forward a demand for a gender quota of a minimum of 30 percent representation of women in Myanmar’s peace process, but this quota was never met.
In a post-coup environment, understanding that sustaining peace occurs across multiple tracks and outside the confines of a formal Track One peace process is essential. For instance, disparate movements have also been influential in supporting Myanmar women’s movements and visibility. In Southern Thailand, movements like the Peace Agenda of Women have brought together 23 women’s groups to advocate for women’s protection and public safety in Myanmar and near the border.
Movements like #SisterstoSisters are working via social media to raise awareness of violence used on women by the Myanmar military. Sisters to Sisters is largely an advocacy platform that does not seem to engage in dialogue, but instead amplifies women’s voices and plights more broadly in the conflict.
Myanmar is incredibly diverse. In the case of women’s civil society engagements, the cause of women’s inclusion and protection against gendered violence has often helped to build a bridge between ethnic minorities, with women from varied ethnic backgrounds finding a common cause. This is not always as utopian as it may seem, with many ethnic minority women in Myanmar still feeling excluded from advocacy groups.
The influence women as caretakers and community leaders have also played in preventing violence cannot be underestimated. Emerging research has demonstrated how women in Kayah state in eastern Myanmar have often been the sole caretakers of their homes and communities as men leave to find work in other states. Many of these women report feeding troops and working to maintain stability within their community to minimise violence and hostility.
Measuring the exact impact these movements have had on formal decision-making is a difficult and perennial question but as peace processes in Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine show, there is a need to expand peacemaking strategies beyond the Track One peace table to include more diverse ways of sustaining peace and security for communities in conflict.
Dr Julia Palmiano Federer is the head of research at the Ottawa Dialogue and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Ottawa. She tweets at @juliapfederer.
Laura Rose O’Connor is a senior programme officer and research coordinator at the Ottawa Dialogue. She tweets at @LauraApostrophe.
This article is part of the International Development Research Centre’s Knowledge for Democracy Myanmar programme in collaboration with Asia Research News.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Editors Note: In the story “International Women’s Day” sent at: 06/03/2023 10:47.
This is a corrected repeat. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on March 8, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/tea-and-a-quiet-word-how-women-influence-peace-talks-in-myanmar/",
"author": "Julia Palmiano Federer, Laura Rose O'Connor"
} |
2,109 | Teachers tell of life on ADHD frontline - 360
Iriani Indri Hapsari
Published on October 18, 2023
Elementary school teachers in Indonesia have described working with ADHD students. The critical message is they need to know more about the condition.
A teacher tells of students who are sad because they feel rejected by their peers or even bullied by their friends while other teachers discuss the problems they might have with parents. Some admit to their own lack of knowledge.
All are elementary school teachers discussing the challenges they face dealing with students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Their stories emerged in a case study of 38 teachers in elementary schools in a major Indonesian city. It shows how the teachers see ADHD and respond to the students who experience it.
It’s a potential insight into Indonesia’s broader experience of dealing with ADHD in schools.
Indonesia has a commitment to provide equal education opportunities for all students enshrined in its national education laws.
That puts its teachers on the front line of making an inclusive system work for the benefit of their students.
Many of those students will be living with ADHD and dealing with its typical symptoms like inattentiveness or difficulty in maintaining concentration or focus.
Yet while teachers play a vital role in helping students with ADHD adapt to the learning environment and socialise effectively, there are challenges that limit the success of their education and well-being in school.
The case study indicated there are gaps in teacher understanding of ADHD and in the training and support they receive to deal with it and jhow that can impact their students. Despite that, it appears teachers have been taking the initiative and trying different approaches to help their students.
Students with ADHD have a lot of potential but experience academic underachievement and social difficulties. Understanding teachers’ perceptions of ADHD-related problems is crucial for effective support.
To fulfill their multifaceted roles as educators, instructors, mentors, directors, trainers, assessors, and evaluators, teachers need to understand individual student characteristics, including those with ADHD.
The study found that teacher knowledge of ADHD ranged from a basic understanding through to not even having heard of it and expressing confusion when the term is mentioned.
Teachers involved in the study reported students with ADHD often exhibit negative feelings about themselves. They might suffer from depression, harbor negative self-perceptions and believe that others dislike them or view them as ‘weird’.
These students might develop low self-esteem, feeling frustrated and different from their peers.
The teachers told how they thought these problems could affect the students, their social relations even with their own families, their behaviour, their perception by others and their academic performance.
The teachers said such students might be rejected or bullied by peers, leading to isolation. The study also showed teachers and parents might feel upset and frustrated when dealing with students with ADHD, straining relationships.
They said those students frequently engaged in impulsive and disruptive behaviours, often without realising the harm they cause. They might struggle to control their emotions and actions, leading to fighting, stealing, or bullying their peers.
These behaviours can create challenges for both teachers and classmates.
Students wth ADHD are often stigmatised and labelled negatively by teachers, peers’ parents, and peers themselves. The study showed that can make life so uncomfortable for students they don’t want to attend school.
The study showed the academic challenges that can come from the symptoms of ADHD, like inattention and impulsivity. Teachers said students might struggle to focus on their work and the classroom atmosphere might also suffer from disruption affecting the education of all in the class.
Teachers play a crucial role in overcoming these challenges.
Several themes and strategies emerged from the study on how teachers managed and supported students with ADHD, especially from teachers with some knowledge of the condition.
While their knowledge on the subject might be limited, teachers were taking the initiative to experiment with different approaches. For example, they were setting clear classroom rules, implementing rewards and consequences for behaviour, using interactive and engaging teaching methods and providing visual aids. They were also closely monitoring and guiding students in their tasks.
The teachers also saw the importance of collaborating with other teachers, parents, school psychologists, doctors, and therapists.
They were also taking steps to raise awareness about ADHD among students, parents and peers. They tried to ensure that classmates understood the unique challenges faced by their peers with ADHD and emphasised the importance of not isolating these students.
Teachers were also actively communicating with parents to provide insights and to encourage a supportive home environment.
Those discussions included recommendations to encourage students to participate in extracurricular activities like sport that channel their energy positively.
They might also discuss additional academic support through tutoring or shadow teachers, or consultation with experts for exploring therapeutic options such as medication, behavioural therapy or remedial therapy.
The researchers concluded that the elementary school teachers generally need more knowledge about ADHD.
The study showed the teachers themselves had identified the various challenges associated with ADHD and were trying to address them.
However, it showed obvious knowledge gaps persist and that most teachers lacked formal training in ADHD.
The study highlighted the need for teachers to enhance their ADHD knowledge through training, aligning with international research highlighting the benefits of teacher knowledge and training in ADHD.
Teachers also need to proactively seek information about ADHD from diverse sources for self-led development.
More support from schools and governments, including a push for more awareness about ADHD, is essential.
Iriani Indri Hapsari is a lecturer in the Faculty of Educational Psychology in Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia and founder of Komunitas teman ADHD (IG @temanadhd). Her research interests are on children and adolescence development, positive psychology, family, ADHD and sexual violence.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on October 18, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/teachers-tell-of-life-on-adhd-frontline/",
"author": "Iriani Indri Hapsari"
} |
2,110 | Tech, money and votes on the line during talks - 360
Amitabh Mattoo
Published on June 21, 2023
Narendra Modi’s trip to the White House may be the most important visit from an Indian leader since 2008 as Delhi weighs a deeper relationship with Washington.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States may be the most important since the countries signed a nuclear deal 15 years ago.
When then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Washington after the nuclear agreement in September 2008, he was extravagant in his praise for then-US President George W. Bush.
At a state dinner, he told Bush: “The people of India deeply love you. And all that you have done to bring our countries closer together is something that history will remember forever.”
The hype for this visit is even greater.
US President Joe Biden has described US-India ties as the “defining relationship” of the 21st century while his Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, has termed Modi’s visit as historic. Modi and Biden face elections next year, so both sides expect their meeting to pay positive dividends domestically.
Not only is the Cold War period of estrangement between the so-called oldest and largest democracies well and truly over, but the two sides are unwilling to let past and current irritants impact on their relationship.
Neither India’s unwillingness to condemn Russia over the war in Ukraine, or the concerns of some in the US over religious freedom and minority rights in India, dampened preparations for the visit, described by officials as big on symbolism as well as potentially substantial agreements.
Modi is only the third leader in India’s history to be accorded a state visit, and, after this visit, the only one who will have addressed a joint session of the US Congress twice.
While there is strategic convergence on geo-political issues, it is understood Modi’s visit will focus on geo-economics. Washington and Delhi are deeply concerned about China’s rise, and its role in the Indo-Pacific and on the border with India.
But this visit is about translating common concern into a deeper and wider defence and technological relationship.
This will be reflected in several substantial agreements, including those that will allow India access to advanced technology while creating jobs in the US, strengthening Modi’s “Make in India” programme while giving a boost to American industry.
One “deal” negotiators from both sides have been working on, which could be announced during Modi’s visit, is an Indian order for maritime drones at a potential cost of USD$3 billion.
This comes on top of the deal between Air India (now owned by Indian company Tata) and US-based Boeing for 290 airplanes at nearly USD$45.9 billion that Biden says will create one million jobs across 44 states in the US.
The success of the state visit will largely hinge on the joint US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET). In the lead-up to Modi’s Washington visit, the countries’ National Security Advisors have met twice.
The framework includes a series of programmes aimed at strengthening the innovation ecosystems in the US and India, as well as the possibility of collaboration on defence technology and jet engine production.
It also seeks to forge a resilient supply chain for semiconductors that could result in a design, manufacturing and fabrication ecosystem housed in India.
Cooperation on space-related issues and collaboration on the next generation of telecommunications also fall under the umbrella of the framework, which could cement a long-term bilateral partnership.
Rarely has India established such an overarching framework of cooperation with another country on critical and sensitive areas. Even with the Soviet Union, with which it had a special relationship, the collaboration was not as broad-based or deep across sectors.
While Delhi will keep flagging its “strategic autonomy” in foreign policy, the Modi visit to the US will also announce the limits it has set for its non-alignment. Where India sets those limits could define the next iteration of its international relations.
is a Professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and concurrently serves as Honorary Professor of International Relations at the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne. He also serves as Chairman of the Governing Board of Miranda House, University of Delhi.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™. | news-360info | 2024-05-27T18:22:32.821463 | Published on June 21, 2023 | {
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://360info.org/tech-money-and-votes-on-the-line-during-talks/",
"author": "Amitabh Mattoo"
} |