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COVID 19, Conflict and Hunger

Few years ago, Swedish diplomat Jan Eliasson observed that unless we made peace with nature, we would never be able to solve the problems of global hunger. Jan Eliasson suggested to the community of food experts to consider the nexus of a sustainable food supply with the ongoing threat of climate change.
As the world observed World Food Day on October 16, it is pivotal to consider the challenges of eradicating global hunger in the context of the warming of our planet. Until 2014, the decades-long-decline in hunger in the world was one of the great achievements of progress, the world’s ability to grow enough food to feed billions of people. Hundreds of millions of people in Africa, Latin American and especially Asia were lifted out of poverty.
Today, that global progress is in jeopardy. Johanna Forman, a scholar-in-residence at American University’s School of International Service noted that, we ignore this reality at our peril. She stated that the ranks of the food insecure are increasing. In March 2020, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) sounded an alarm as the initial data on global hunger confirmed what we already suspected. More than 60 million undernourished people, up by 10 million people between 2018 and 2019, joined the ranks of the food insecure. In 2019, over 1.25 billion people experienced moderate food insecurity, and 750 million experienced severe food insecurity. The majority of hungry people worldwide live in countries wracked by conflict, 489 million people. The arrival of the COVID 19 pandemic only aggravates these pressures further.
Johanna Forman further stated that with ten years to go until 2030, the year the United Nations set as the target to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we are now off track to achieve them. The SDG target of zero hunger by that date is no longer in reach. If the global community continues to keep the discussions about solutions to hunger separate from ways to tackle climate change, we will certainly lose the battle for survival.
The United States and China, the two largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, have taken irresponsible positions regarding ways to keep the earth’s temperature stable. So, what can citizens do to create a global grassroots movement that will help put the planet on a more hopeful trajectory to address hunger and the continued warming of the earth?
For this end, the young generation plays a key role in this battle. Young people are individually very much aware of the connections between agricultural production and climate. The young Swedish activist, Greta Thunberg, has inspired a generation to call out their governments and local communities to make changes in the way they manage food waste and generate energy that do not pollute the atmosphere.
Ford Runge, Director of the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy stressed that mobilization requires the private sector to operate its own campaigns to use their businesses for good purposes. There are many multinational companies that are signing on to agreements to address their carbon footprints. This movement must now also be duplicated in both small and medium-sized enterprises. A new initiative, 10x20x30 intends to get 10 major retailers to enlist 20 suppliers to commit to meeting the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goal to cut food waste by half.
Ford Runge argued that the technology sector has created a remarkable array of options for generating energy that will not emit carbon. It must now insist that these options for wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy generation are made available at low cost to all countries that are at risk of falling further back in feeding their populations. According to Ford Runge, there must be financial incentives that both sovereign lenders and the international financial institutions provide to those countries at the greatest risk especially small island states where rising sea levels threaten their very existence. This is possible if a target list of priority states starts the process of energy sector modernization.
The fossil fuel production companies talk a good line about transitioning to renewable energy. But they are still focused on further extraction of oil in spite of all the warning signs of disaster. The United States and Saudi Arabia, the two largest oil producers, could better serve the global community if they agreed to reduce harm to the respective energy sectors. This is where citizen mobilization could play a major role as investment dollars could be conditioned on an energy transition.
Johanna Forman stressed that food growing companies worldwide can become a positive force in each of the countries where they operate by providing a decentralized approach to agriculture. This would allow them to produce what the world needs to eat, while creating mechanisms to give those in the most remote parts of the world a way to reach markets. They can achieve that by guaranteeing these small farmers a means to sell their products locally. Big companies have the logistical capacity to help governments develop these types of decentralized approaches to their agricultural policies.
Dealing with food waste as a major issue in tackling the dual global hunger and climate change challenge. It needs to be tackled at the systems level rather than by looking at it as a piecemeal solution to reducing carbon emissions. According to Project Drawdown, if landfills were a country, they would be the third largest emitters of greenhouse gases, coming only after China and the United States. A global approach to landfills, while not easy to implement, could also help focus attention on food waste. This would create an enduring solution to one of the greatest offenders to the environment.
Observing World Food Day may give people around the globe a chance finally to consider how their own impact on the planet must be considered in light of the threats we all face. As Johanna Forman suggested, all United Nations member states must take responsibility to protect the earth. Now is the moment to act on this, for failing to act will be done at our peril. It is indeed a must to make peace with nature.

Kidus Amanuel

Name: Kidus Amanuel

Education: Degree student

Company name: Ballager Life Style Co.

Title: Co-owner

Founded in: 2021

What it does: Makes different kinds of clothing

HQ: Addis Ababa

Number of employees: 24

Startup Capital: Confidential

Current capital: Growing

Reasons for starting the business: Entrepreneurial mindset

Biggest perk of ownership: Time freedom

Biggest strength: Passion for craft

Biggest challenging: Capital

Plan: Expanding the business

First career: None

Most interested in meeting: No one

Most admired person: Successful people in different sectors

Stress reducer: I don’t encounter stress

Favorite past time: Reading books

Favorite book: Think and grow rich

Favorite destination: Anywhere in Ethiopia

Favorite automobile: Ford

Tender Notice

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Tender Notice

Project title: Project to create employment opportunities in Ethiopia by establishment of a garment accessory factory, introducing a dual-education model and creating employment opportunities.
Country: Ethiopia
Date: July 28/2021
ICB no: 4
Dear Concern,
Desta PLC has received financing from the Facility Investing for Employment (IFE), which is an investment facility created by KfW Development Bank (KfW) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as an integral part of the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation, is cooperating with KfW under an investment for jobs project and now it wants to procure an Elastic Waist Band, Full Set and this contract will be jointly financed by Investing for Employment) GmbH and Desta PLC. Bidding process will be governed by the Desta PLC.
The Desta PLC now invites sealed Bids from eligible Bidders for the specification of the products
Bidding will be conducted by means of the International Competitive Bidding procedure with qualification as specified in the “Procurement Procedures for Recipients” from the facility Investing for Employment (IFE) and/or in KfW’s Procurement Guidelines (“KfW Guidelines”).
Interested eligible Bidders may obtain further information from Elias Woldu, +251 93-913-1333
A complete set of bidding documents is available to interested Bidders at Desta PLC, Eresha Subcity, Kebele 01, Industrial Zone Shed 02, Butajira, Ethiopia. Also, you can email to info@bekdesgroup.com to have the access to the e-files that are downloadable. The bidding documents received from the Purchaser are not transferable.
Bids must be delivered to the address indicated in the clause ITB 22.1 of the bidding documents on or before 10 September 2021 9am. Late Bids will be rejected.
Bids will be opened on 12 September 2021 10am in a public session in the presence of the Bidders’ designated representatives.

READYING THE YOUTH

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When we say ‘readying’, we do not mean ‘grooming’, ‘training’, etc. We will leave the execution of these latter ones to the current global system that is bent on brainwashing the youth all the way to zombie-stan! The primary and universal problem of the prevailing world order is its irrational fixation on unsustainable growth and excessive consumption. To implement its objectives, the system requires (amongst other things) regular supply of unthinking drones sprinkled with some thinking ones so that the manipulation of nature can go on unabated. Bringing up inquisitive/critical youth with enough capacity and confidence to interrogate our suicidal collective trajectory is certainly not the desire of this destructive system!
The current global system is, without a doubt, the most destructive concoction the walking ape has ever devised in its short sojourn on the blue planet! There are plenty of reasons why we keep on saying this. First, we are exhausting non- renewable resources as if there is no tomorrow. Second, we are callously destroying life and the ecosystems that have been sustaining life for eons. Thirdly, we are changing/affecting the composition of the atmosphere, oceans, polar icecaps, (climate change), etc. and don’t seem to worry about it. Every day from two hundred to three hundred species go extinct, thanks to the geological era we now call the anthropocene! Our youth is shielded from knowing the honest truth about all such happenings because of massive indoctrination and palliatives to numb their critical faculties. The global power that be has set up institutions to make sure posterity will remain slave of the existing destructive order. Unless the global youth wakes up from its slumber and starts to question the ways of the status quo, even the dominant species itself will not have much time left!
The word ‘readying’ is meant to convey the need to prepare oneself for all eventualities. Whether we like it or not, ‘unintended consequences’ will dominate our current and future existence, as we have massively disturbed natural phenomenon, without appreciating the inherent interconnectedness of all things on the planet, if not the universe! Therefore, the least we can do is anticipate potential consequences. Some will definitely be in the form of ‘unintended consequences’. The growth narrative is one such animal whose consequences will not be pleasant. How is it possible to have a non-stop economic growth, (propelled by cheap fossil oil) on a finite planet? There are also other unintended consequences, mostly of societal nature haunting inquiring minds, but we will not go over them today. The relative comfort modernity brought about has costs that are humongous, if we take into consideration the matter of externalization. If we take into account the massive costs due to soil erosion, ocean acidification, air pollution, species extinction, etc., modernity itself might not well be desirable!
When the human collectives/social systems are determined to stifle justifiable inquiries, changes, not always peaceful, will become inevitable. In Southern Europe; namely Greece, Spain and now Italy, the youth has started to become active in traditional politics. The old parties in these countries were kicked out of power by new populist movements, effectively spearheaded by the youth. Increasingly, the youth in these countries is articulating its positions in regards to economics (austerity) and politics (immigration) outside of establishment logic, i.e., independent of the status quo. These spreading moves of the youth have started to rattle global dominant interests and they have started to take their own actions. The ‘Arab Spring’ had to be subdued, as it was threatening powerful global interests. Some component of the youth, particularly in the OECD (rich countries), has also adopted the strategy of systemically dropping out from it all. Granted, the youth might not be wise in the ways of the world and also lacks viable ideology that can galvanize all of humanity towards a more sustainable and equitable global arrangement. But this is understandable, especially as it has not yet liberated itself from the prevailing logic of the greed system.
As it stands, establishment thinking, which is geared to rewarding stupidity and greed, while punishing wisdom and experience, still holds sway all over the world. Unlike the old days however, many promising youth have started to engage in all sorts of alternatives. Naturally, there will be many false starts, before convincing and viable ideologies take over the imagination of the youth, leading it to a more resilient, balanced democratic order. To some extent, the changes we are witnessing in the arena of politics in Ethiopia, to say nothing about visibly shifting polity is a reflection of this new and bold orientation of the majority of the population in the country (30% is less than 30 years old)! In our case, the youth was pushed to challenge the existing order, as comprehensive corruption (injustice, etc.) became the modus operandi of the state. Ethiopia’s ‘Mafia State’, the powerful state behind the formally elected one, became the de facto ruling class of our so-called ‘developmentalist’ state. Going forward, the important thing for the youth to do is; become more independent in thoughts, actions and reflections, with a view to institute new forms of collective societal existence, based on transparency, equity, democracy, sustainability and resilience. Liberation from the grips of the status quo should remain paramount!