Crisis resilience ‘critical' to stem rising hunger

Speed read Crises, shocks and volatility to food systems becoming the new norm Policy focus should shift to ‘permanent crisis resilience' – report Local groups could be key to gender inclusion, data collection [SYDNEY] A shift towards permanent "crisis resilience” from short-term aid is crucial to mitigate increasingly frequent shocks to the global food system and tackle rising global hunger, say food policy researchers. Rob Vos, IFPRI's director of markets, trade and institutions, says a closer connection is needed between early warning systems that monitor global food market volatility and those that monitor food insecurity at the local level. "Both systems further need to pay more attention to monitoring the risk factors that underly food supply or price shocks as that cause food crises,” Vos tells SciDev.Net.

Micro-estimates of wealth data ‘can help tackle poverty’

Speed read Researchers say new wealth data set can help policymakers tackle poverty Around 97 million people were pushed into extreme poverty in 2021 But experts say more local, disaggregated data collection is needed A data project charting poverty levels in detail across the global South could help policymakers better target social assistance and humanitarian aid, researchers say. Deborah Hardoon, poverty and inequality lead, Development Initiatives Joshua Blumenstock, chancellor’s associate professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information and one of the lead authors of the study, said: “The estimates of absolute and relative wealth are very fine-grained, with one for every 2.4-kilometre square grid cell, which is small enough to satisfy the needs of most policymakers, but also large enough to respect the privacy of individual households. See PDF] “For instance, we compared what our algorithm-generated estimates say about the wealth of people in village X to what an independent survey firm says about the wealth of people in village X. We found that — across four independent data sources from 18 different countries — our new micro-estimates provide remarkably accurate measurements of relative wealth and poverty in LMICs,” Blumenstock told SciDev.Net.

Students’ future on hold as govts put malls before schools

Speed read Foundational years of schooling vital for overall development Lack of digital infrastructure impedes remote learning Children’s education a priority for most parents in the region A “generational catastrophe” looms as governments prioritise opening of malls over schools, resulting in huge learning losses with some 117 million children globally still affected by full school closures due to COVID-19 lockdowns, according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Lost formative years Children have missed the hands-on experience of learning and face-to-face engagement with teachers. Since the onset of the pandemic, schools have been completely closed for an average of 16 weeks in the Asia Pacific region comprising 47 countries. If partial closures by locality or educational level are factored in, the average duration of closures represents 29 weeks across the regions, according to the latest data from UNESCO’s HQ’s Global monitoring of school closures. A UNESCO study shows that over 100 million children will fall below the minimum proficiency level in reading due to the impact of COVID-19 school closures.

‘Perfect storm’ created for food collapse, panel hears

Speed read COVID-19 has thrown food insecurity into stark relief Food prices up nearly a third year-on-year - FAO Value chains, waste, nutrition must be urgently targeted Hikes in oil prices, conflicts, emerging diseases, poor governance, and disruption in supply chains due to transportation blockages during the pandemic have come together to create a potentially devastating scenario for the global food system, a panel on food security heard. “The pandemic has provided a really stark indicator of the need for more resilient food systems with fundamental change needed if we’re going to build sustainable systems that can help to address the linked challenges of feeding a growing population, supporting growth and jobs, and protecting our planet from climate change and environmental degradation,” CABI’s chief executive Daniel Elger told the meeting. Moses Mwale, director of agriculture in Zambia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, emphasised that monitoring and tracking of food security and nutrition indicators is a vital component of enabling a robust food system.

‘Child labour rampant in Bangladesh’s leather industry’

Researchers found children aged seven to 17 working 12 to 14 hours, six days a week in almost all processes along the leather supply chain – from animal slaughter and skinning to dyeing, waste disposal and manufacturing of leather products and by-products such as glue and meat. “The leather supply chain is highly complex as are the reasons why children engage in the most dangerous forms of labour,” says A.K.M. Maksud, the study’s lead author and executive director at Grambangla Unnayan Committee. Recommendations by Human Rights Watch to Bangladesh’s ministry of labour and employment include rigorously enforcing existing laws, prohibiting hazardous child labour in tanneries, with monitoring and unannounced site inspections, and issuing penalties against employers who violate the law.