Fears about Sudan's Darfur after 130 killed in days of fighting

Issued on: 18/01/2021 

- AFP

Khartoum (AFP)

The latest inter-ethnic violence to rock Sudan's restive Darfur left 47 dead on Monday, after 83 died in separate weekend clashes -- and following shortly after a peacekeeping mission ended operations.

With at least 130 people killed in total, the recent violence is some of the worst reported since the signing of a peace agreement in October, which observers hoped would end years of war.

The bloodshed comes just over two weeks since the hybrid United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) ended operations in their long-running peacekeeping mission.


While former rebel forces have committed to lay down their weapons in the recent political peace deal, decades of conflict have left the vast western region awash with weapons and divided by bitter rivalries.

Key issues include land ownership and access to water.

In South Darfur, fighting broke out early Monday between the powerful Arab Rizeigat tribe and the Fallata, a cattle and camel herding people who trace their roots to the Fulani of western Africa.

"The clashes between the Rizeigat tribe and the Fallata tribe have stopped, and we have now counted 47 deaths," local Fallata leader Mohamed Saleh told AFP.

Saleh said that several homes were torched in the attack.

- 'Ugly face of war' -

The fighting in South Darfur comes after at least 83 people were killed in clashes between rival ethnic groups on Saturday and Sunday in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state.

Sudanese authorities in Khartoum said they had sent a "high-profile" delegation to help contain the situation.

The United Nations -- a long-running presence in the nation -- expressed deep concerns on Sunday over the violence.

Sudan has been undergoing a fragile transition since the April 2019 ouster of president Omar al-Bashir following mass protests against his rule.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella group which spearheaded protests against Bashir, said Sunday that the violence showed the "deficiencies" of the peace agreement, which they said did not address the roots of the crisis in the region.

Darfur endured a bitter conflict that erupted in 2003, leaving roughly 300,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced, according to the UN.

The fighting erupted when ethnic minority rebels rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, which responded by recruiting and arming a notorious Arab-dominated militia known as the Janjaweed.

The main conflict has subsided over the years but ethnic and tribal clashes still flare periodically, largely pitting semi-nomadic Arab pastoralists against settled farmers.

On December 31, the UNAMID force formally ended its 13 years of operations in the region.

It plans a phased withdrawal of its approximately 8,000 armed and civilian personnel within six months.

Fearing deadly violence, Darfur residents held protests in late December against UNAMID's departure.

On Sunday, the UN secretary-general's spokesman Stephane Dujarric called on Sudanese authorities to "bring an end to the fighting".

"Escalating inter-communal violence has resulted in scores of deaths and injuries, the displacement of nearly 50,000 people and the destruction of property," he said in a statement.

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said on Twitter Monday he feared it was the "return of the ugly face of war in Darfur", warning that it "could worsen" with peacekeepers "on their way out".

"International support must not fade," Egeland said. "Humanitarian aid and protection should again be scaled up."

Sudan's transitional government, a power sharing arrangement comprised of generals and civilian figures, signed the October peace agreement with rebel groups in Sudan's main conflict zones, including Darfur.

Two groups refused to join the deal, the latest in a string of agreements aimed to bring peace, including the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) faction led by Abdelwahid Nour, which is believed to maintain considerable support in Darfur.

Bashir, who is currently in custody on trial in Khartoum, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged genocide and war crimes in Darfur.

© 2021 AFP

Tunisia arrests over 600, deploys army after violent protests

Unrest spread across Tunisia after the government imposed an anti-virus lockdown amid economic hardship. Many Tunisians are frustrated by the lack of political reforms a decade after the Arab Spring.

Demonstrators defied a curfew, imposed to stem the spread of coronavirus, and protested against economic hardship

Tunisian authorities have arrested more than 600 people after a third consecutive night of riots in several cities throughout the North African country, officials said on Monday.

Defense ministry spokesman Mohamed Zikri said the army has deployed troops in several areas including Bizerte in the north, Sousse in the east and Kasserine and Siliana in central Tunisia.

Riots erupted after the Tunisian government imposed a nationwide lockdown on Thursday — the same day as it marked the 10th anniversary of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's fall from power during the Arab Spring — to curb a surge in coronavirus infections.

The Tunisian defense ministry said that the situation was "calm" on Monday, according to the Associated Press

Watch video 01:08 Tunisia police, protesters clash for third day in row

Interior ministry spokesman Khaled Hayouni said a total of 632 people were arrested, including "groups of people between the ages of 15, 20 and 25 who burned tires and bins in order to block movements by the security forces." He said that some of those arrested threw stones at police and clashed with security forces.

"This has nothing to do with protest movements that are guaranteed by the law and the constitution," he said, adding: "Protests take place in broad daylight normally... without any criminal acts involved."

In the capital Tunis, police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators, the German news agency DPA reported, citing eyewitnesses.

Rights group Amnesty international released a statement on Monday, calling for the immediate release of all the arrested protesters.

"Nothing gives security forces permission to deploy unnecessary and excessive force including when they are responding to acts of sporadic violence," the group said.

Pandemic devastates tourism-reliant Tunisia

The four-day lockdown ended on Sunday night, but it was not immediately clear if other restrictions would be imposed.

The unrest comes at a time many Tunisians are already increasingly dissatisfied with the lack of change since the Arab Spring broke out at the end of 2010.

Watch video 01:38 Looking back on the Arab Spring

The country is suffering from a weakening economy, with one third of young people unemployed. GDP contracted by nine percent in 2019 and consumer prices have skyrocketed. Citizens are also frustrated over poor public services.

The pandemic has exacerbated economic woes, decimating Tunisia's tourism industry — also already crippled after a string of fatal jihadist attacks in 2015.

Tunisia has recorded over 177,000 coronavirus infections with over 5,600 deaths since the pandemic erupted last year.

mvb (AFP, dpa)

Lebanon's downhill spiral hits the weakest

As Lebanon struggles to contain COVID-19 infections, the number of people suffering from extreme poverty has tripled in the past year. Some Syrian refugees in the country are embittered enough to return home.

Lebanon is under a strict lockdown that includes a 24-hour curfew.


"With each passing day, the lives of Lebanon's citizens, migrants and refugees is becoming more unbearable; the poverty rate has doubled and the extreme poverty rate has tripled in the past year," Aya Majzoub, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, told DW.

Her analysis of the situation in the country has just been published in the organization's World Report 2021. "People don't have money for basic goods; they have resorted to stealing basic things like baby formula in pharmacies, and signs of desperation are palpable across the city, including at the traffic lights, where people and children as young as 5 years old are begging for money and food," said Majzoub, who lives in Beirut.

Majzoub's assessment is backed up by recent projections from the World Bank: Lebanon's severe economic and financial crisis led to a projected 19.2% decline in GDP for 2020, triple-digit inflation and a projected increase in poverty to 45% and extreme poverty to 22%. As for its population of 6.8 million, including 1.5 million refugees, approximately 1.7 million people are estimated to fall under the poverty line, with 841,000 people under the food poverty line.

In addition to the difficult economic situation, the country is also facing unprecedented numbers of COVID-19 infections, while the health system is collapsing. Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Hassan Diab, admitted at the interministerial Coronavirus Committee meeting last Monday that "we have reached the stage of extreme danger." To curb the numbers, the country on Thursday implemented one of the world's strictest shutdowns, comparable with Italy or China's measures last year. It is to last at least until January 25.

Watch video 12:38

Soul of the city: Beirut's cultural decline

 

World Bank loan for some poor families — but not for all

The serious situation of the Lebanese population has been recognized by the World Bank with last week's approval of a $246 million (€200 million) loan. Some 786,000 vulnerable Lebanese families will be supported by the Emergency Crisis and COVID-19 Response Social Safety Net Project (ESSN). However, refugees are not entitled to this aid.

The situation of the refugees in Lebanon has worsened radically in the past year. "Eighty-eight percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon are in extreme poverty," said Majzoub. According to the UN, extreme poverty is defined as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water (…) and access to services." For some refugees, the situation has become so dire that they have decided to return to Syria instead.

Many children in Lebanon are suffering from extreme poverty

However, even the return to what will be an uncertain future in Syria was a difficult affair last year, since the official border crossing at al-Masnaa was closed for almost four months. "Refugees seeking to return to Syria weren't allowed to cross, therefore returns from Lebanon to Syria were lower than in previous years," Lisa Abou Khaled of the UN refugee agency UNHCR told DW. According to the UNHCR in Lebanon, the number of returns has been steadily increasing since 2016, with 66,000 Syrian refugees verified to have gone back to their home country.

Difficult fates

Laana's family is one of the few that managed to return last year. "They left for Damascus after eight years in Beirut with less than they had arrived with," Laana, who asked that her real name not be used, told DW. Her Syrian father and her Lebanese mother, both in their sixties, lost their import-export-business after the explosion at the Beirut port last August, said Laana, who is a scientist in Germany. Shortly after, the couple came to the conclusion that the situation in Lebanon wouldn't improve and that they had better chances of building a sustainable life in Syria.

Another Syrian family told DW that they had arrived in Beirut in 2014 after their house in Damascus was completely destroyed. "Nobody wants to be a refugee, and many Lebanese resent us and our presence," the father of two sons told DW. "We have always wanted to return." Yet for now, the family have decided to stay, as they see the situation in Lebanon as still being safer than in Syria. 

The majority of Syrian refugees wish to return to their home country, but few believe it is possible now

Refugees labeled as economic migrants

"Here is hardship, but across the border they would face torture and persecution," Majzoub said. In compiling her report for HRW, she found out that many Syrian refugees "don't feel they have a choice to return." She added: "I believe Laana's family is an exception."

Majzoub's observations are confirmed by the latest survey by Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) in collaboration with Stanford University. Researchers carried out 3,000 in-person interviews with Syrian refugees across Lebanon between August and October 2019. Less than 30% said they expected to be able to live in Syria, but 60% said they wished they could be there. And a substantial share of the population of Syrian refugees, approximately one-third, did not expect to ever be able to return home.

Razan Salman contributed to this report from Beirut.

Vermont's BIPOC drivers are most likely to have a run-in with police, study shows

A five-year review of more than 800,000 vehicular stops, tickets, arrests, searches, and contraband in Vermont confirms widespread racial disparities and bias policing among the state's authorities

UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT

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IMAGE: UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT ECONOMICS PROFESSOR STEPHANIE SEGUINO IS CO-AUTHOR OF THE NEW STUDY THAT SHOWS WIDESPREAD RACIAL BIAS PERSISTS AMONG VERMONT POLICE DEPARTMENTS AFTER EXAMINING MORE THAN 800,000 VEHICULAR STOPS... view more 

CREDIT: IAN THOMAS JANSEN-LONNQUIST

New research examining more than 800,000 traffic stops in Vermont over the course of five years substantiates the term "driving while Black and Brown."

Compared to white drivers, Black and Latinx drivers in Vermont are more likely to be stopped, ticketed, arrested, and searched. But they are less likely to be found with contraband than white drivers. The report finds evidence not only of racial disparities but also racial bias in policing. What's more, a number of these gaps widened over the years examined in the report. With such comprehensive data encompassing the state of Vermont, the authors also found that Vermont police stop cars at a rate of 255 per 1,000 residents, which is more than three times higher than the national average of 86 stops per 1,000 residents.

The report "Trends in Racial Disparities in Vermont Traffic Stops, 2014-19" -- led by University of Vermont Economics professor and Gund Fellow Stephanie Seguino with Cornell University's Nancy Brooks and data analyst Pat Autilio -- is a comprehensive review of racial disparities in the state's vehicular stops, tickets, arrests, searches, and contraband. As well, it analyzes the impact of 2018 legalization of cannabis -- previously considered contraband -- on these numbers.

Using data from 79 law enforcement agencies across the state, the report builds on Seguino and Brooks' past studies of traffic stops to include 50 more agencies and additional years of data. The authors first reported in 2017 (PDF) that in 2015, for every white driver arrested, nearly two Black drivers were arrested. That statistic has remained roughly the same into 2019.

This study also provides a breakdown of the data by agency, revealing wide variation across those 79 agencies and regions.

For example, on average, Black drivers are about 3.5 times more likely and Hispanics 3.9 times more likely to be searched during a stop than white drivers. But, in Brattleboro, Black drivers are almost 9 times more likely to be searched than white drivers; in Shelburne, 4.4 times greater; in South Burlington; 3.9 times greater; in Vergennes, 3.8 times greater; in Burlington, 3.6 times greater; and in Rutland, 3.45 times greater. This compares to Stowe, where Black drivers are less likely to be searched than white drivers.

The study finds that legalization of cannabis did little to narrow the Black and Latinx search rate disparities with white drivers. Even after legalization in 2018, Black drivers are 3 times as likely to be searched as white drivers, and Latinx drivers, 2.6 times more likely.

The researchers note there is a consistent issue with the quality of traffic stop data: some agencies don't always comply with the requirement to report the driver's race during a stop. "In fact," Autilio notes, "in more than a dozen agencies, the percentage of reports that exclude the driver's race is double the percentage of reports that indicate a BIPOC driver."

"This is concerning because the purpose of the legislation requiring agencies to collect data on traffic stops is to identify and track racial disparities in traffic policing," Brooks says. In a small state with few BIPOC communities, "just a small number of stops missing race of the driver can undermine the quality of the data and the ability to detect racial disparities."

Previous years' reports have been shared with Vermont's law enforcement officials, spurring racial bias training in some agencies and disputes in others. Seguino was recently unanimously appointed to the Burlington Police Commission for her work and expertise.

"Though this work is challenging, not the least because of the resistance of some law enforcement agencies to acknowledging these troubling racial disparities, we believe it important to continue to provide solid evidence on which to assess racial bias in policing," Seguino said. Brooks added, "Our hope is that our analysis is useful to law enforcement agencies committed to bias free policing. And we hope community members find these data helpful in holding their local law enforcement agencies accountable."

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The report, "Trends in Racial Disparities in Vermont Traffic Stops, 2014-19," along with individual large law enforcement agency reports, is available online: https://www.uvm.edu/cas/economics/profiles/stephanie-seguino.

Eliminating microplastics in wastewater directly at the source

A research team from INRS has developed a process for the electrolytic treatment of wastewater that degrades microplastics at the source

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE - INRS

Research News

 

IMAGE: ELECTRO-ANALYTICAL SYSTEM USED TO IDENTIFY APPROPRIATE ELECTRODES FOR ANODIC OXIDATION PROCESSES. view more 

CREDIT: INRS

A research team from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has developed a process for the electrolytic treatment of wastewater that degrades microplastics at the source. The results of this research have been published in the Environmental Pollution journal.

Wastewater can carry high concentrations of microplastics into the environment. These small particles of less than 5 mm can come from our clothes, usually as microfibers. Professor Patrick Drogui, who led the study, points out there are currently no established degradation methods to handle this contaminant during wastewater treatment. Some techniques already exist, but they often involve physical separation as a means of filtering pollutants. These technologies do not degrade them, which requires additional work to manage the separated particles.

Therefore, the research team decided to degrade the particles by electrolytic oxidation, a process not requiring the addition of chemicals. "Using electrodes, we generate hydroxyl radicals (* OH) to attack microplastics. This process is environmentally friendly because it breaks them down into CO2 and water molecules, which are non-toxic to the ecosystem," explains the researcher. The electrodes used in this process are more expensive than iron or steel electrodes, which degrade over time, but can be reused for several years.

An effective treatment

Professor Drogui envisions the use of this technology at the exit of commercial laundries, a potential source of microplastics release into the environment. "When this commercial laundry water arrives at the wastewater treatment plant, it is mixed with large quantities of water, the pollutants are diluted and therefore more difficult to degrade. Conversely, by acting at the source, i.e., at the laundry, the concentration of microplastics is higher (per litre of water), thus more accessible for electrolytic degradation," explains the specialist in electrotechnology and water treatment.

Laboratory tests conducted on water artificially contaminated with polystyrene showed a degradation efficiency of 89%. The team plans to move on to experiments on real water. "Real water contains other materials that can affect the degradation process, such as carbonates and phosphates, which can trap radicals and reduce the performance of the oxidation process," says Professor Drogui, scientific director of the Laboratory of Environmental Electrotechnologies and Oxidative Processes (LEEPO).

If the technology demonstrates its effectiveness on real commercial laundry water, the research group intends to conduct a study to determine the cost of treatment and the adaptation of the technology to treat larger quantities of wastewater. Within a few years, the technology could be implemented in laundry facilities.

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About the study

The article "Treatment of microplastics in water by anodic oxidation: A case study for polystyrene", by Marthe Kiendrebeogo, Mahmoodreza Karimiestahbanati, Ali Khosravanipour Mostafazadeh, Patrick Drogui and Rajeshwar Dayal Tyagi, was published in the Environmental Pollution journal. The team received financial support from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Nature et technologies (FRQNT), the CREATE-TEDGIEER program, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canadian Francophonie Scholarship Program (CFSP).

About INRS

INRS is a university dedicated exclusively to graduate level research and training. Since its creation in 1969, INRS has played an active role in Quebec's economic, social, and cultural development and is ranked first for research intensity in Quebec and in Canada. INRS is made up of four interdisciplinary research and training centres in Quebec City, Montreal, Laval, and Varennes, with expertise in strategic sectors: Eau Terre Environnement, Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications, Urbanisation Culture Société, and Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie. The INRS community includes more than 1,400 students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty members, and staff.

Low-carbon policies can be 'balanced' to benefit small firms and average households

CMCC FOUNDATION - EURO-MEDITERRANEAN CENTER ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Research News

 

 

Some of the low-carbon policy options currently used by governments may be detrimental to the households and small businesses less able to manage added short-term costs from energy price hikes, according to a new study.

However, it also suggests that this menu of decarbonising policies, from quotas to feed-in tariffs, can be designed and balanced to benefit local firms and lower-income families - vital for achieving 'Net Zero' carbon and a green recovery.

University of Cambridge researchers combed through thousands of studies to create the most comprehensive analysis to date of widely used types of low-carbon policy, and compared how they perform in areas such as cost and competitiveness.

The findings are published today in the journal Nature Climate Change. The researchers also poured all their data into an interactive online tool that allows users to explore evidence around carbon-reduction policies from across the globe.

"Preventing climate change cannot be the only goal of decarbonisation policies," said study lead author Dr Cristina Peñasco, a public policy expert from the University of Cambridge.

"Unless low-carbon policies are fair, affordable and economically competitive, they will struggle to secure public support - and further delays in decarbonisation could be disastrous for the planet."

Peñasco authored the review with Prof Laura Diaz Anadon, Director of Cambridge's Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG), and Prof. Elena Verdolini from the RFF-CMCC European institute on Economics and the Environments (EIEE) and the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change and University of Brescia. Anadon and Verdolini lead the workpackage of the EU project INNOPATHS that funded the work.

Around 7,000 published studies were whittled down to over 700 individual findings. These results were coded to allow comparison - with over half the studies analysed "blind" by different researchers to avoid bias.

The ten policy "instruments" covered in the study include forms of investment - targeted R&D funding, for example - as well as financial incentives including different kinds of subsidies, taxes, and the auctioning of energy contracts.

The policies also include market interventions - e.g. emissions permits; tradable certificates for clean or saved energy - and efficiency standards, such as those for buildings.

Researchers looked at whether each policy type had a positive or negative effect in various environmental, industrial and socio-economic areas.

When it came to "distributional consequences" - the fairness with which the costs and benefits are spread - the mass of evidence suggests that the impact of five of the ten policy types are far more negative than positive.

"Small firms and average households have less capacity to absorb increases in energy costs," said co-author Laura Diaz Anadon, Professor of Climate Change Policy.

"Some of the investment and regulatory policies made it harder for small and medium-size firms to participate in new opportunities or adjust to changes.

"If policies are not well designed and vulnerable households and businesses experience them negatively, it could increase public resistance to change - a major obstacle in reaching net zero carbon," said Anadon.

For example, feed-in tariffs pay renewable electricity producers above market rates. But these costs may bump energy prices for all if they get passed on to households - leaving the less well-off spending a larger portion of their income on energy.

Renewable electricity traded as 'green certificates' can redistribute wealth from consumers to energy companies - with 83% of the available evidence suggesting they have a "negative impact", along with 63% of the evidence for energy taxes, which can disproportionately affect rural areas.

However, the vast tranche of data assembled by the researchers reveals how many of these policies can be designed and aligned to complement each other, boost innovation, and pave the way for a fairer transition to zero carbon.

For example, tailoring feed-in tariffs (FiTs) to be "predictable yet adjustable" can benefit smaller and more dispersed clean energy projects - improving market competitiveness and helping to mitigate local NIMBYism*.

Moreover, revenues from environmental taxes could go towards social benefits or tax credits e.g. reducing corporate tax for small firms and lowering income taxes, providing what researchers call a "double dividend": stimulating economies while reducing emissions.

The researchers argue that creating a "balance" of well-designed and complementary policies can benefit different renewable energy producers and "clean" technologies at various stages.

Government funding for research and development (R&D) that targets small firms can help attract other funding streams - boosting both eco-innovation and competitiveness. When combined with R&D tax credits, it predominantly supports innovation in startups rather than corporations.

Government procurement, using tiered contracts and bidding, can also improve innovation and market access for smaller businesses in "economically stressed" areas. This could aid the "levelling up" between richer and poorer regions as part of any green recovery.

"There is no one-size-fits-all solution," said Peñasco. "Policymakers should deploy incentives for innovation, such as targeted R&D funding, while also adapting tariffs and quotas to benefit those across income distributions.

"We need to spur the development of green technology at the same time as achieving public buy-in for the energy transition that must start now to prevent catastrophic global heating," she said.

Peñasco and Anadon contributed to the recent report from Cambridge Zero - the University's climate change initiative. In it, they argue for piloting a UK government research programme akin to ARPA in the US, but focused on new net-zero technologies.

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*Acronym for 'Not In My Backyard' - a colloquialism for local residents opposing a development in their area.

A press preview of the study is available here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/to86ac23m4wl97x/AAAuXCSuxeJyLpADADsYYbgRa?dl=0

UW researchers develop tool to equitably distribute limited vaccines

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

Research News

 

MADISON, Wis. -- The demand for COVID-19 vaccines continues to outpace supply, forcing public health officials to decide who should be first in line for a shot, even among those in the same pool of eligible vaccine recipients.

To assist these efforts, researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and UW Health have developed a tool that incorporates a person's age and socioeconomic status to prioritize vaccine distribution among people who otherwise share similar risks due to their jobs. The tool helps identify those who are at greater risk of severe complications or death from COVID-19.

UW Health has implemented the prioritization algorithm to equitably provide limited doses to frontline health care workers. Other organizations can also access the freely available tool to guide their own vaccine distribution plans.

While the UW-Madison tool was designed with the first phase of eligible recipients in mind, it could be used as vaccine distribution expands to larger populations. As the eligible population increases, the gap between initial supply and demand could grow, making such prioritization tools even more helpful.

"Knowing we're going to have limited vaccine for some time, we wanted to develop an algorithm to equitably distribute vaccinations within these risk groups," says Grace Flood, the director of clinical analytics and reporting in the Office of Population Health at UW Health, who helped lead development of the tool along with the Health Innovation Program within SMPH.

In addition to age, the algorithm uses the Social Vulnerability Index to measure a person's susceptibility to severe COVID-19 based on where they live. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed the SVI metric to help emergency responders identify which neighborhoods and towns will require the most support following natural disasters or public health emergencies.

The SVI incorporates 15 measures in four categories: socioeconomic status, housing composition and disability, minority status and language, and housing and transportation. Race and ethnicity have been closely correlated with higher COVID-19-related hospitalizations and mortality.

Flood and her team incorporated the SVI in accordance with a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine that recommended using the index to fairly distribute vaccines. Because Wisconsin publishes data about COVID-19 deaths at the census-tract level, "we were able to determine the relationship for risk of mortality between age and SVI," says Flood. This relationship allowed the researchers to verify that age and SVI combined provide an accurate estimate of an individual's risk.

Since age and SVI are readily available pieces of information about an individual and each contributes to COVID-19 risk, an algorithm that incorporates both elements may serve as one of the best ways to distribute vaccines until supply catches up to demand, says Flood.

The researchers have published their algorithm in the Annals of Family Medicine COVID-19 collection and made it available for download on the project's website.

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US fishing and seafood industries saw broad declines last summer due to COVID-19

New analysis by NOAA Fisheries provides insights into the pandemic's early economic impact

NOAA HEADQUARTERS

Research News

 

The U.S. fishing and seafood sector generated more than $200 billion in annual sales and supported 1.7 million jobs in recent years. It experienced broad declines in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 public health crisis, according to a new NOAA Fisheries analysis released today. While losses vary by sector, by region and by industry, data and information from this report may help businesses and communities assess losses and inform long-term recovery and resilience strategies.

According to analysts, COVID-19 protective measures instituted in March across the United States and globe contributed to an almost-immediate impact on seafood sector sales. There was a strong start to the year, with a 3 percent increase in commercial fish landings revenue in January and February. However, revenues declined each month from a 19 percent decrease in March to a 45 percent decrease by July. This translates to a 29 percent decrease across those 7 months, as compared to 5-year averages and adjusted for inflation.

Restaurant closures, social distancing protocols, and other safety measures also contributed to losses in other sectors of the seafood economy. By the end of second quarter 2020, 78 percent of aquaculture, aquaponics, and allied businesses reported COVID-19 impacts with 74 percent experiencing lost sales. The analysis noted outdoor seating at restaurants in warm months and a pivot to direct delivery at some supermarkets provided an outlet for some aquaculture sales. Also, the recreational charter/for-hire fishing industry was completely shut down in the spring with some phased reopenings in the early summer. The new analysis contains regional snapshots to help industries understand local impacts to key fisheries.

"In the coming months and years, scientists and economists will work to obtain a more complete picture of COVID-19's impact on U.S. seafood and the Blue Economy. It is our hope that this initial analysis provides a foundation that the industry researchers and planners can draw upon as they plan for the future," said NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver.

On the trade front, international markets were negatively affected by disruptions in harvesting, processing and shipping. U.S. seafood exports declined 18 percent in value in the January to June period, when compared to the past five years. Fresh product exports experienced steeper declines when compared to frozen product exports. The value of seafood imports into the United States declined 4 percent in value in this period. These declines were offset by U.S. consumer demand for tuna imports (canned and in pouches), which increased 25 percent in this 6-month period, peaking to 49 percent in June.

The report notes that some U.S. industry losses may be offset by the infusion of emergency federal relief funding. In May, NOAA allocated $300 million in fisheries aid to states, territories, and tribes as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. They, with the help of interstate commissions, are distributing these much-needed funds to eligible fishery participants. Furthermore, in September, the Secretary of Agriculture made $530 million available through the Seafood Trade Relief Program to support fishermen and industries impacted by retaliatory tariffs from foreign governments.

"NOAA Fisheries stands with our fishermen, seafood industries, and coastal communities who have suffered great economic hardship this year due to COVID-19," added Oliver. "The United States is a global leader in sustainable, world class fisheries. Our goal is to help all those up and down the U.S. seafood supply chain rebound, recover and strengthen resilience as we plan strong returns to sea in 2021 and beyond."

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Read the report and regional snapshots: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/us-fishing-and-seafood-industries-saw-broad-declines-last-summer-due-covid-19

New study compiles four years of corn loss data from 26 states and Ontario, Canada

AMERICAN PHYTOPATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

 NEWS RELEASE 15-JAN-2021

Research News

 

IMAGE: DAREN MUELLER IN CORN FIELD view more 

CREDIT: BRANDON KLEINKE

Plant pathologists working at universities across 26 corn-producing states in the United States and in Ontario, Canada, compiled data about annual corn reductions caused by diseases. Estimated loss from each disease varied greatly by region.

"This group of plant pathologists takes a step back to estimate what has gone wrong in corn fields in each of their states," said Iowa State University plant pathologist Daren Mueller, who was involved in this project. "Collectively, and across years, corn disease loss estimates provide folks a zoomed out view of what diseases are affecting corn in the U.S. and Canada."

To Mueller, these data represent one of the pieces of a good research project. Researchers can use these data to justify new research projects that can help mitigate the impacts of certain diseases. These data can also serve as a benchmark to measure the impact their research might have on corn production.

"It's interesting to compare the losses over the years," Mueller said. "We started doing these estimates in 2012." All diseases loss data are posted on the Crop Protection Network. Mueller is also encouraged by the excellent collaboration among scientists across so many states.

The last four years of their data are compiled in an article recently published in Plant Health Progress. According to Mueller, "If you grow, breed, scout, study, eat, or really anything with corn, it is good to know what can go wrong when growing the crop. This article provides an overview of the effect of diseases on corn over the past four years."

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Read more about this research in "Corn Yield Loss Estimates Due to Diseases in the United States and Ontario, Canada, from 2016 to 2019," published in the December issue of Plant Health Progress.

Want a hot stock tip? Avoid this type of investment fund

Specialized ETFs invest in trendy, overvalued areas, study finds

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio - "Buy low and sell high" says the old adage about investing in the stock market.

But a relatively new type of investment fund is luring unsophisticated investors into buying when values are at their highest, resulting in losses almost immediately, a new study has found.

The lure? Buying into trendy investment areas like cannabis, cybersecurity and work-from-home businesses.

"As soon as people buy them, these securities underperform as the hype around them vanishes," said Itzhak Ben-David, co-author of the study and professor of finance at The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business.

"They appeal to people who are not sophisticated about investing. They may have an extra $500 and decide to try to make what they think is easy money in the stock market."

The research was presented earlier this month at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association and is available on the SSRN preprint server.

These investment funds are a particular type of Exchange Trade Funds, or ETFs, which were first developed in the mid-1990s. ETFs are investment funds that are traded on stock markets and are set up like mutual funds, holding a variety of other stocks in their portfolios.

The popularity of ETFs is growing quickly. By the end of 2019, in excess of $4 trillion was invested in more than 3,200 ETFs. The original ETFs were broad-based products that mimicked index funds, meaning that they invested in large, diversified portfolios, such as the entire S&P 500, Ben-David said.

But more recently, some companies have introduced what Ben-David and his colleagues call "specialized" ETFs, which invest in specific industries or themes - usually ones that have received a lot of recent media attention, like work-from-home opportunities.

"These specialized ETFs are often promoted as the 'next big thing' to investors who are wowed by the past performance of the individual stocks and neglect the risks arising from under-diversified portfolios," said study co-author Byungwook Kim, a graduate student in finance at Ohio State.

For the study, the researchers used Center for Research in Security Prices data on ETFs traded in the U.S. market between 1993 and 2019.

They focused on 1,086 ETFs. Of those, 613 were broad-based, investing in a wide range of stocks. These are the Walmarts of ETFs, appealing to value-conscious consumers, Ben-David said.

The remaining 473 were specialized ETFs, investing in a specific industry, like cannabis, or multiple industries that are tied by a theme. These are the Starbucks of ETFs, appealing to consumers who are willing to pay more for what they see as higher quality, he said.

"The securities that are included in the portfolios of specialized ETFs are 'hot' stocks," said co-author Francesco Franzoni, professor of finance at USI Lugano and senior chair at the Swiss Finance Institute. "We found that these stocks received more media exposure, and more positive exposure, than other stocks in the time leading up to the ETF launch."

In 2019, the new ETFs included products focusing on cannabis, cybersecurity and video games. In 2020, new specialized ETFs covered stocks related to the Black Lives Matter movement, COVID-19 vaccine, and the work-from-home trend.

The performance of broad-based versus specialized ETFs was very different, the researchers found.

Broad-based ETFs had earnings over the study period that were relatively flat, the analysis showed. But specialized ETFs lost about 4 percent of value per year, with underperformance persisting at least five years after launch.

"Specialized ETFs, on average, have generated disappointing performance for their investors," said co-author Rabih Moussawi, assistant professor of finance at Villanova University.

"Specialized ETFs are launched near the peak of the value of their underlying stocks and start underperforming right after launch."

The study found that the types of investors who bought into specialized ETFs were different from those who invested in the broad-based products.

For example, large institutional investors who have professional managers, such as mutual funds, pension funds, banks and endowments, generally avoid specialized ETFs.

The study found that institutional investors own about 43 percent of the market capitalization of broad-based ETFs in their first year, but less than 1 percent of the capitalization of specialized ETFs.

In contrast, data from one online discount brokerage that caters to individual investors showed that its customers are much more likely to invest in specialized than broad-based ETFs.

Other research has suggested that investors using that discount brokerage exhibit "sensation-seeking behavior" and their holdings can be described as "experience and curiosity holdings," Ben-David said.

The results suggest that most people should be wary of investing in specialized ETFs, Ben-David said.

"If you purchase a specialized ETF, you are likely to lose money because their underlying stocks are overvalued," he said.