Why it’s easier for India to get to Mars than to tackle its toilet challenge

Public toilets in the city of Varanasi in India. Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA

In 2013, India became the fourth country in the world (after Russia, the United States and the European Union) and the only emerging nation to launch a Mars probe into space. But it remains part of the group of 45 developing countries with less than 50% sanitation coverage, with many citizens practising open defecation, either due to lack of access to a toilet or because of personal preference.

According to the Indian census of 2011, only 46.9% of the 246.6 million households in India had their own toilet facilities, while 3.2% had access to public toilets. In this context, the remaining 49.8% households had no option but to defecate in the open. As a point of comparison, in 2011 53.2% of households had a mobile phone. In rural areas, where nearly 69% of India’s population lives, 69.3% of households lack toilets; in urban areas that number falls to 18.6%.

At first glance, such statistics and technological capabilities alongside large-scale open defecation is a puzzle. On the supply side, it does not seem difficult for a country that can construct sophisticated and complex cell phone technology to develop the capacity to build simple low-cost toilets. And for users, a toilet evidently offers more social benefits in terms of health and human dignity than a telephone.

Yet the citizenry has not enthusiastically adopted low-cost toilets, especially rural households. Why? Let us explore the reasons for this paradoxical outcome.

Half of Indian households has access to a mobile phone despite lacking other infrastructure. Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

At a systemic level, economists have pointed out that technical and commercial availability and consumer acceptability of an innovation are the two main drivers of its diffusion. Evidently both are a problem in India.

For firms, it makes business sense to provide mobile phones in a variety of quality-price ranges as the network infrastructure is well developed and demand for this communication tool is assured. However, they are not interested in selling low-cost toilets to the poor, as the need for that product is not supported by a willingness or capacity to pay for it.
State programmes for sanitation coverage

Because companies are disinclined to market a product that requires investment in awareness and demand creation, the state must step in.

From the mid-1980s till the late 1990s, when India adopted economic reform, toilets were distributed free via the top-down state-funded Central Rural Sanitation Programme. But the programme, which assumed that availability would automatically lead to usage, failed because most beneficiaries did not see the need or have the desire for sanitation.

Consequently, in the new millennium, the Indian government switched to demand-focused interventions. Today, the state is a financier for public-private partnerships involving NGOs, micro-finance companies and other social enterprises that interact closely with the targeted beneficiaries to provide accompaniment and education for sanitation literacy and use.

The Total Sanitation Campaign launched in April 1999, emphasised that “Information, Education and Communication” should precede sanitation construction to ensure sustained demand and behavioural change. 

Open defecation spot in rural Chhattisgarh, central India. Adnan Abidi/Reuters

State investment in sanitation thereafter received another fillip under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is the first politician since Mahatma Gandhi to emphatically underscore, through major media campaigns, that a “clean India” is necessary for the well-being of its citizens.

Modi during a cleanliness drive in Assi Ghat Varanasi. Narendra Modi Official/Flickr, CC BY-SA

On October 2 2014, to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, Modi inaugurated the Swachh Bharath Mission, or the Clean India Mission. Unlike the earlier state programmes, it recognises that “availability” does not guarantee “acceptability”. The central objective of the mission is to eliminate open defecation in India by 2019, not just to ensure universal sanitation coverage.

The target is to transform villages and cities into “open defecation-free” communities, meaning they demonstrate: toilet access, toilet use and toilet technology that keeps both people and the environment safe. The programme invests in capacity building in the form of trained personnel, financial incentives and systems for planning and monitoring to ensure behavioural change. States are given flexibility in terms of implementation. Today, a variety of experiments, from the national to village level, are underway to achieve Modi’s Clean India mission.
It’s not just about building toilets

But for India, providing access to some form of a toilet is the easy part. What’s harder is getting people to use them. In rural areas, toilet-rejection varies by gender.

An ongoing study based on 300 focus groups with men across the country revealed that they prefer open defecation to a toilet because it: saves water; provides access to fresh water and a breezy environment; lowers the wear and tear of the toilet; protects women from getting embarrassed by the sight of men; and offers a handy excuse to escape importunate wives and mothers.

Public agencies try to persuade families to invest in toilets for the safety of their young girls. But in Tamil Nadu villages, another focus group-based study – this one with female teachers and girls – revealed that a central advantage of open defecation is that it offers opportunities for same-sex social interactions for females.

Girls and women in many regions are not allowed to gather in public places to debate issues, exchange ideas or simply relax together. Adolescents face even greater restrictions, because older women often sanction free discussion among youngsters. In this regard, open defecation rendezvous offer an excuse to talk and spend time together free, from other constraints.

In the isolated villages we visited with largely Dalit and fisherfolk populations in Tamil Nadu, the risk of sexual harassment is not perceived to be high enough to make toilets a safe haven. Thus, to eliminate open defecation in such villages, alternative safe gendered spaces for social interactions are needed first.
Cooperation between the players

India’s additional challenge is to diffuse not just any toilet but a high-quality, long-lasting, non-contaminating product that minimises water and soil pollution and promotes sustained use. This will require that the sanitation subsystem (i.e. the part under the toilet seat/slab), and its waste-processing technology design to be adapted to the geo-physical features of the targeted zone, taking into account soil type, rainfall, water table, water availability, wind velocity and slope.

Thousands of toilets lie abandoned in India either never used or abandoned after short use, due to poor construction quality or inappropriate technology design.

When a toilet’s superstructure begins to deteriorate or the toilets stop working well, problems can emerge. For example, if the family can’t afford or doesn’t want to invest in repairs, or if there isn’t a local agency to repair toilets (which is often the case), foul odours and leaks may begin. This, in turn, creates negative perceptions about toilets, which may trigger a bandwagon effect such that whole the community ultimately returns to open defecation.

Thus, it is imperative to ensure quality construction in sanitation drives and trained rural masons for individual construction initiatives.

A Tamil woman and her mother-in-law in front of their toilet whose roof caved in - hence the thatch. FAL

To address this need, various institutions are teaching masonry to youth with little formal education. But there is no common standardised programme that focuses on sanitation systems. Moreover, illiterate rural masons may be intimidated by formal courses and thus fail to attend.

At the same time, since masons learn their craft by doing, or through apprenticeships, their learning is slow, shaky and tacit – meaning that two people with the same skill set may execute a project differently. There is a need to address these issues while promoting skills building.

For an emerging country like India, it is easier to take part in exploratory missions to Mars than to tackle its sanitation challenge. The former can be addressed through a linear process spearheaded by the advanced, well-resourced Indian Space Research Organisation, while the latter calls for systemic change encompassing thousands of towns and villages.

For India to meet its goal of eliminating open defecation, it will need cooperation and coordination between a diverse variety of systemic actors, generation of knowledge products in the form of accessible curriculum for masons, and community engagement to build only safe toilets – and to use them well.

November 18, 2016 
Author
Shyama V. Ramani
Professorial fellow, United Nations University
Disclosure statement
Shyama V. Ramani has received research grants from ICSSR (India), Department of Science and Technology (India), NWO (The Netherlands) and the European Commission. She is also the founder-director of Friend In Need India.

United Nations University provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

Has Trump proposed a Middle East peace plan – or terms of surrender for the Palestinians?

January 28, 2020, is a date that will be remembered in Middle Eastern history – but it will take some time before anyone knows for sure how it will be remembered.

The day didn’t start well for Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s longest-serving prime minister also became the country’s first prime minister to be indicted while still in office. He faces multiple charges of corruption.

But Netanyahu didn’t have much time to sulk. Just a few hours later, he was standing alongside Donald Trump as the pair unveiled the U.S. administration’s long-anticipated plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace, written in no small part in coordination with – and deeply in tune with – Netanyahu’s policies.

The fact that the plan’s unveiling came as both men face intense domestic scrutiny – the press conference interrupted coverage of Trump’s impeachment – should not be overlooked.

I have been following developments in the Middle East for a long time as a U.S. State Department official, a lifelong student and now a professor of Israeli history, and as a dual citizen of the U.S. and Israel. I know how complex the issues are and how past attempts at peace have fallen well short.
In black and white …

Trump’s plan comprises two different goals.

The first – fostering Israeli-Palestinian peace, or at least coexistence – is there in black and white for all to read.

The second – tying Trump and Netanyahu’s respective domestic critics into knots – is everywhere between the lines.

While the Trump administration worked on the plan in coordination with Israel and “friendly” Arab states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, it crucially did not involve the Palestinians. Palestinian resistance to the very development of this plan – out of suspicion, weakness and resentment – was met not with a carrot but a stick, with the U.S. cutting all aid to Gaza and the West Bank in February 2019.

As a result, positions in the plan that might have been viewed as difficult compromises, had they been negotiated, are instead rightly seen as terms of surrender. Yes, the plan gives Palestinians a path to limited statehood, but only after ceding on the core issues of Israeli settlements, refugees and control of much of Jerusalem.

The plan was successfully kept behind the curtains while being drafted, but it now steps out onto a complicated stage.

Relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank have for some years been in utter political stalemate, even as the two have maintained working-level security cooperation. In Hamas-run Gaza, Israel has been in a long war of attrition, mixing ongoing less-than-total violence with tacit mutual understandings aimed at managing the conflict.

Meanwhile, Israel’s ties with several Sunni Arab states, especially in the Gulf, have been deepening, united by a desire to ward off Iran and its Shia proxies in Lebanon and what remains of Syria. Jordan, structurally weak but strategically important due to its location and links to Arab and Islamic actors, balances contending forces with skill and jitters.

Internal Palestinian politics are riven by the bitter rivalry between the nationalist Palestinian Authority and the Islamist group Hamas and by discontent with the Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas’ hold on power amid claims of corruption and mismanagement in the Palestinian semi-government.

Israeli politics is stalemated, too, and headed for its third round of parliamentary elections in less than a year, spurred by fallout from Netanyahu’s corruption scandals and a fragmented opposition.

Many Israelis are alienated by Netanyahu’s endless legal troubles and divisive politics, but others are kindled by his attacks on political opponents. Meanwhile the Israeli left has failed to recover the credibility it lost on security issues following the collapse of 2000’s Camp David talks and the ensuing Second Intifada.

As for Trump, he remains popular in Israel – including among centrists, who don’t necessarily follow day-to-day U.S. politics and look unfavorably on former President Barack Obama’s handling of the Middle East.

At home, Trump’s policies on Israel do not reflect that of the majority of American Jews, who tend to be politically liberal and supportive of a mutually negotiated two-state solution. Rather, Trump’s views chime with that of the smaller but more fervent American Jewish right, and above all with the millions of evangelicals who are a key plank of the president’s base.

Into all this drops the 180-page peace plan – whose heart is creating a legally recognized but geographically tiny and fragmented Palestinian state without full military powers – something that falls way short of Palestinian aspirations. Some parts of the plan are not unreasonable, and the many failed attempts at peacemaking to date call for fresh thinking. But the problems in this plan are very real.

It stakes out strong positions on the three hard issues that have bedeviled negotiations time and again: Israeli settlements, the status of Jerusalem and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

The Trump plan leaves all Israeli settlements in place and proposes a networks of roads and tunnels to help Palestinian move around the cantons that would make up their state.

Building bridges or roads to ruin? The White House

It also freezes Jerusalem’s status quo and makes permanent Israel’s security barrier between the city’s east and west. As for the Palestinians who fled or were forced out of their homes in the 1948 war and their descendants, the plan says they are to be financially compensated. A few will be absorbed into Israel, but most will be integrated into either the envisioned Palestinian state or their current country of residence – which includes the Arab states that have refused to absorb them to date.

These stances will be politically helpful to Netanyahu and congenial to many Israelis, who want to end the country’s occupation of the Palestinians, if their own personal security can be assured.

To the Palestinians, they represent bitter pills, each of which would be hard enough to swallow on its own.

Reaction to the plan has led to talk of a possible reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, something Israel has been trying to avoid – and put security forces on alert for further violence.

Another problem is in the thinking that is evident in the plan’s title, “Peace to Prosperity.” Blueprints for economic development are woven throughout. The ideas are laudable. But the notion that the most fervently committed Jews and Arabs will trade away their deepest convictions for financial gain is as unlikely to take hold now as it did in the Oslo Accords of the 1990s.
… and red lines all over

So what happens now?

Netanyahu has announced he will begin to annex territory, in a move his main political challenger, former Army Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, described as “reckless and irresponsible,” even as he says he accepts the plan’s broad outlines for an eventual settlement. The Palestinians for their part have rejected the proposals and taken to the streets in protest.

The plan raises some serious, immediate questions: How much unilateral action will Netanyahu take without paying a domestic price – especially with Israelis returning to the polls in March? And what responses are open to the Palestinians, other than the tried-and-failed turns to violence and appeals to the U.N. – neither of which will move Israeli public opinion in their direction?

Above all, the questions we should be asking are: What does this or any plan do concretely to improve the lives of people in the region? What practical steps could be taken to make viable coexistence – peace is too strong a word – further down the line possible or at least avert new violence triggered by thwarted expectations?

There is no easy solution to the bitter Israel-Palestinian conflict. Unilateral annexation by Israel will only further Palestinian resentment and rejectionism. Too many people, in Washington as well as the Middle East, view the conflict in terms of ideological dreams and agendas, paying little heed to the real needs of people on the ground, Israeli and Palestinian alike. Should this plan become, like so many of its predecessors, a political football on both sides of the ocean, the people who make their homes and live their lives on politicians’ playing fields will lose.

January 30, 2020 
Author

Yehudah Mirsky
Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University


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Trump’s Middle East ‘vision’ is a disaster that will only make things worse

US President Donald Trump’s “vision” for Israelis and Palestinians is not a realistic peace plan to end a decades-old conflict. Rather, it’s more like a real estate deal in which one side is a recipient of a low-ball offer.

In the meantime, the other side is continuing to expand its hold on property to which it does not have the title deeds under international law. This is not the “deal of the century”, as Trump claims, but an invitation to Israel to assert its sovereignty over swathes of territory seized in the 1967 war.

Read more: Fifty years on from the Six Day War, the prospects for Middle East peace remain dim

In return, the Palestinians are being offered a “Swiss cheese” arrangement in which what is left of territory under their nominal control is pock-marked with settlement enclaves that will remain subject to Israeli military occupation.

This does not represent a two-state solution, or even a half-a-state solution. The Trump plan is a recipe for endless occupation of a stunted Palestinian entity with little or no prospect of achieving statehood, or even a basic autonomy free from military occupation.

The latest peace plan will likely join other failed initiatives, like rusting ordnance in the desert after Middle East conflicts.

It will do nothing for regional peace and stability. On the contrary, it will provide a rallying call for extremists across the Middle East who have no interest in reasonable compromise that would enable Israelis and Palestinians to co-exist in neighbouring entities.

The fact that Palestinian representatives were not involved in negotiations on a future outlined by the president of the United States and accepted with alacrity by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the most nationalistic and uncompromising leaders in Israel’s history, tells its own story.

The Palestinian leadership severed official contact with the Trump administration in 2017 when Washington recognised Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem and shifted its embassy there from Tel Aviv.

The Palestinians can reasonably be criticised for pulling back from direct dealings with the administration, but given Washington’s biases towards Israel, this boycott is hardly surprising.

The Trump plan amounts to not much more than a series of talking points, apart from the green light it gives to Israeli supporters of annexation. In addition, the Palestinian leadership is being asked to agree to terms that fall far short of what had been negotiated in previous peace efforts dating back to the Oslo Accords of 1993.

The famous handshake on the White House lawn to signify the accords in 1993 is a distant memory. Shutterstock

Under Oslo, a “Palestinian Self-Governing Authority” would be established for a five-year transitional period, leading to a permanent two-state solution settlement based on United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.

These called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories occupied in war.

Sadly, the Oslo process was stillborn due to toxic internal politics on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. An opportunity was squandered. That was a quarter of a century ago.

Under the Trump plan, the so-called two-state solution is dead for the foreseeable future given that Israel is allowed to annex territory under its control, including the Jordan Valley.

Israel has said it will move ahead with annexation as soon as this coming Sunday.

At the same time, the Trump administration has validated Israel’s settlement-building on Palestinian land in the West Bank by reversing longstanding US policy that regarded these settlements as a breach of international law.

The Trump “vision” should also be viewed in the context of the US administration’s unprecedented accommodation of an ultra-nationalist Israeli government’s priorities.

No Palestinian representatives attended the unveiling in Washington of the Trump plan celebrated by a US president under threat of impeachment and an Israeli prime minister charged with corruption.

Arab attendees came from those countries in the Gulf that could be regarded as American clients: Bahrain and United Arab Emirates. Representatives of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan were not present. Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries to have peace treaties with Israel.

While Cairo’s response – like that of Riyadh – to the Trump plan has been muted, it is unlikely leaders of these two countries will risk demonstrations that would likely follow overt acceptance of arrangements inimical to Palestinian interests.

Read more: US can no longer be counted on to end Israel-Palestinian conflict

In all of this, the year 1995 should be regarded as the reference point for any discussion of what lies ahead for the Palestinians and Israelis. That was the year a Jewish zealot assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The so-called peace process effectively died that day.

Rabin’s death and Netanyahu’s subsequent election effectively stymied efforts to encourage a more constructive atmosphere in which compromise might be possible.

A combination of Netanyahu’s obduracy and a weak and divided Palestinian leadership has meant prospects for peace have gone backwards since Oslo in 1993. The handshake on the White House lawn between Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is a distant memory.

The Trump plan is highly unlikely to reverse a continuing drift away from reasonable compromise. It risks making things worse, if that’s possible.

January 30, 2020 
Author

Tony Walker is a Friend of The Conversation.
Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University


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UN racism committee calls for halt to Trans Mountain, Coastal GasLink pipelines and Site C dam over treatment of First Nations

Disturbed by law enforcement’s ‘forced removal, disproportionate use of force, harassment and intimidation’ against Indigenous peoples

An Indigenous-led march in Vancouver in support of the 

Wet'suwet'en opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline last year.Postmedia

The Canadian Press
Laura Kane January 7, 2020

VANCOUVER — A United Nations committee working to end racism is urging Canada to immediately stop the construction of three major resource projects until it obtains approval from affected First Nations.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which monitors a convention to end racial discrimination signed by countries including Canada, is calling for a suspension of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, Site C dam and Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The committee, made up of 18 experts, says in a written directive last month that it is concerned by the approval and construction of the three projects without the free, prior and informed consent of impacted Indigenous groups.
Coastal GasLink gets eviction notice from breakaway First Nations chiefs on $6.6B LNG project
B.C.’s Supreme court rules for $6.6-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline, against Indigenous law
Ottawa still didn't consult properly on Trans Mountain: First Nations

It also says it’s disturbed by law enforcement’s “forced removal, disproportionate use of force, harassment and intimidation” and “escalating threat of violence” against Indigenous Peoples.

Trans Mountain Corp., the Crown corporation building the pipeline expansion, says it is approved and moving forward with construction safely and in respect of communities.

Chief Leah George-Wilson speaks at a briefing with other First Nations chiefs and Coast Salish drummers ahead of Federal Court of Appeal hearings on the Trans Mountain Pipeline in Vancouverin December. Reuters/Jennifer Gauthier

BC Hydro says it has been consulting with affected First Nations on Site C since 2007 and has reached benefit agreements with most of them.

“The Canadian courts have reviewed our consultation with certain First Nations and found it to be adequate and to have appropriately accommodated their interests,” it says in a statement.

“To date, more than $230 million in Site C procurement opportunities has been committed to Indigenous companies. In addition, we have around 400 Indigenous Peoples currently working on the project.”

The Canadian government, Coastal GasLink and RCMP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The UN committee has previously demanded a halt to Site C, which is opposed by the West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations in northeast British Columbia. However, this marks the first time it has called for a stop to the Trans Mountain and Coastal GasLink projects.

The protest camp near the entrance of the Trans Mountain pipeline facility in Burnaby, British Columbia in 2018. Ben Nelms for National Post

The right to “free, prior and informed consent” to resource projects is part of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada has adopted but not incorporated into law.

The B.C. government has committed to adapt its laws to meet the aims of the UN resolution but has not yet begun amending legislation.

The UN committee recommends Canada establish a legal and institutional framework to ensure adequate consultation to obtain free, prior and informed consent, and freeze present and future approval of large-scale development projects that don’t meet that level of consent.

Members of the Wet’suwet’en have attempted to block construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline near Smithers, B.C. The natural gas pipeline is part of the massive $40-billion LNG Canada project.

On Saturday, hereditary chiefs with the First Nation issued a letter advising the company that it was “trespassing” on unceded territory and demanding that it vacate the premises.

The company has said only security staff were present on the weekend and they complied with the eviction notice, but it plans to resume construction this week after a holiday break.

A protest group calling itself the Tiny House Warriors has built tiny homes in the path of the Trans Mountain pipeline on Secwepemc territory in B.C.’s Interior.

The UN committee says it’s particularly alarmed by the reported arrest and detainment of a Secwepemc demonstrator in October.

The committee calls on Canada to immediately cease the “forced eviction” of Secwepemc and Wet’suwet’en people and guarantee that no force will be used against the two groups.

It also calls for the RCMP and other security and police to withdraw from their traditional lands.

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False information fuels fear during disease outbreaks: there is an antidote

February 9, 2020 
The spread of false information can have a devastating impact on affected communities. Woohae Cho/Getty Images


False allegations and rumours about the coronavirus outbreak have been running riot on social media and in some mainstream media. Misinformation is rampant and conspiracy theories have added to the confusion. Examples include reports that the virus can kill a person in seconds, that Ghana has developed a successful vaccine and that HIV drugs have been used as a cure. There has even been a photo showing dozens of coronavirus victims lying dead in the streets of Wuhan in China.

All of these claims have been shown to be false.

The spread of rumours and plain lies has happened in the wake of other disease outbreaks. For example, when Ebola broke out in West Africa in 2014, rumours about the source of the disease included that the virus was cultivated and released to kill Africans. During the 2018 outbreak of the bat-borne Nipah Virus in India, it was alleged that news of the disease was a corporate conspiracy to boost sales of mosquito repellent.

This sensationalist and alarming content is spread via online channels, creating what have become known as “digital pandemics” or “(mis)infodemics”. Their effect is to amplify public anxiety. This can derail official efforts to provide credible information to the public. Misinformation also has devastating consequences for affected communities, such as the current increase in anti-Chinese sentiments.

Several factors fuel the spread of misinformation during outbreaks of infectious diseases. These include fear and the speed of social media. As previous incidents like this have shown, it’s possible to counter the foolishness. But this requires scientists and public health officials to step up to the plate and to proactively use their platforms to convey accurate information.
Fuelling fear

Misinformation spreads fast when people are afraid. A contagious and potentially fatal disease is frightening. This provides the ideal emotionally charged context for rumours to thrive.

People rely on mental shortcuts (or heuristics) when facing complex information, rather than consider everything carefully and critically. This allows them to make instant decisions that are, unfortunately, often wrong.

Scientists need time to study a new disease and test potential treatments, but people may be desperate and impatient. As a result, it’s common for old home remedies and unproven treatments to be revived. One example is the claim that oregano oil can cure the coronavirus. I have personally received a detailed WhatsApp message about how “Biblical oils” such as frankincense can cure any stage of a coronavirus infection.

Ingrained negativity bias means that people love to share bad news. A 2018 study confirms that false news travels farther, faster and more widely than the truth. Scientists ascribe this to the novelty and emotional reactions these messages invoke. This also explains why people are inclined to speculate and spread exaggerated rumours about the perceived dangers of an infectious disease.
New media

Editors and journalists no longer control the flow of news and opinion. Anyone can generate and distribute text, images, sound clips and video on social media. It’s easy, fast and virtually free to distribute information. Messages can be amplified, shared and reacted to at levels previously unimaginable.

Social media channels provide near-perfect vectors for misinformation to proliferate. Some social media tech giants claim that they are doing what they can to stop the spread of half-truths and outright falsehoods about the coronavirus. Facebook, for example, has promised to help limit the spread of false information by taking down content containing false claims and conspiracy theories that have been flagged by leading global health organisations and local health authorities.

But sources of misinformation are often unclear and it may seem daunting (or even impossible) to control their spread.
Taking control of the narrative

Research has shown that, during a health crisis, affected communities are eagerly looking for information and able to assimilate positive health messages rapidly.

For their part, most scientists are keen to combat misinformation. They even feel morally obliged to help stem the flow of misinformation, particularly when inaccurate health messages could cause harm to desperate and vulnerable people.

Rather than lamenting the dangers of social media, scientists and public health officials should learn how to use social media more effectively for frequent and reliable updates. This could include working with so-called social media influencers including popular sports stars and celebrities to convey accessible and actionable health messages.

The mass media can also play a key role. Major media organisations are rising to the current coronavirus challenge by providing accurate information. Take this visual guide from the BBC and the news updates from the IOL media group in South Africa.

Science media centres, such as the ones in the UK and Australia, have lists of topic experts on hand to ensure journalists can reach them easily. These platforms are providing expert responses to the coronavirus and extensive multimedia resources that help journalists report the story more accurately.

Institutional media offices, science academies and learned societies could play a significant role in mobilising experts to respond visibly and pro-actively during disease outbreaks. For example, many universities such as Harvard and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine are providing updates.

International, national and regional public health organisations share the responsibility to provide accurate and timely information to the media and the public. For example, the World Health Organisation (WHO) provides basic advice to the public and has a team of risk communication experts and social media teams. The WHO also issues daily situation reports and hosts press briefings.

And people are being called on to judge online sources more critically so that they will be able to distinguish between credible and dubious content. For example, the International Federation of Library Associations created an infographic with eight simple steps on how to spot fake news.

There are a number of a number of additional challenges that pertain to Africa. A report on South Africa identified a few of these. They include getting accurate information to people who aren’t literate or don’t have internet access; constructive involvement of traditional healers; making health messages available in indigenous languages and empowering public health officials to communicate accurately, clearly and speedily. All are relevant to other countries on the continent.

Author
Marina Joubert
Science Communication Researcher, Stellenbosch University
Disclosure statement
Marina Joubert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Stellenbosch University provides funding as a partner of The Conversation AFRICA.


Combating medical misinformation and disinformation amid coronavirus outbreak in Southeast Asia

February 8, 2020
Author

The overwhelming sharing of fake news amid coronavirus outbreak across the globe raised concerns among governments, including in the Southeast Asian region.

In the past weeks, we have quickly found disinformation and misinformation on social media stirring public discussion and, at times, leading to unnecessary panic.

In Malaysia, misinformation claiming that coronavirus would make people behave like zombies raised concerns among medical professionals after a video went viral on Facebook.

In Indonesia, dozens of hoaxes shared on the Internet include inaccurate allegations that some patients in the country had died after being affected by the pathogen.

The new strain of coronavirus, originated from Wuhan, China, spread rapidly across the world, thanks to globalisation.

In less than two months since the first case reported in Wuhan, the virus claimed the lives of over 700 people with more than 34,000 confirmed cases.

However, we know little about the novel coronavirus except that it is lethal if not treated properly.

This uncertainty is causing speculation among the public. It is worsened by the irresponsible sharing of unverified information about the disease.

To mitigate the dissemination of medical hoaxes, Southeast Asian governments have taken various approaches.
Fighting against hoaxes

In Indonesia, its Communication and Information Ministry announced that it had found 54 false information about the virus on the Indonesian websites and social media earlier this month.

The Indonesian government has worked closely with fact-checking bodies, including the anti-slander society (MAFINDO), to combat this misinformation.

Having no fact-checking bodies, Malaysian authorities are working together with the media to provide reliable information to the general public.

Government bodies, like Malaysian Media and Communication Council through its website Sebenarnya.my, serve as a one-stop centre to crosscheck information that went viral on social media.

While in the Philippines, the country’s Department of Justice recently tasked its National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to catch peddlers of medical hoaxes.Misinformation and disinformation amid the 2019-Coronavirus outbreak. Nuurrianti Jalli

Harsher approaches

The severity of information disorder related to the novel virus pushed Southeast Asian government to use stringent body of laws as the distribution of misinformation have caused mass panic.

In Malaysia, for example, the call for a total ban of Chinese tourists emerged fuelled by medical hoaxes consumed through social media.

A similar trend was also found in Indonesia, where anti-Chinese rhetoric exists. Xenophobic treatments against individuals of Chinese descent also happen beyond Southeast Asia amid the outbreak.

In taking serious action against the distribution of hoaxes on the pathogen outbreak, Southeast Asian law enforcers have arrested individuals for allegedly spreading false information on coronavirus.

Malaysian law enforcers have arrested 12 individuals for spreading fake news on coronavirus. If found guilty, they can face up to two years in prison or fine up to RM 50,000 (about US$12,000) or both.

Thai authorities have detained two individuals under the Computer Crime Act. While, Indonesian officials had arrested two women in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan for the same reason.
What’s at stake

a Medical misinformation and disinformation are two components of the information disorder in Southeast Asia and they require immediate governmental attention.

False content ranging from wrong information on vaccines to inaccurate content about the coronavirus demands a proper action plan to be instituted to keep information disorder from worsening.

Although people have associated imposing penalties for spreading fake news with limiting freedom of speech, in medical crises such as this, strict control by authoritative bodies to contain hoaxes are necessary.

Weak control over false content could lead to public panic, and jeopardise efforts placed by the government to control further spread of the virus.

Even despite harsh actions from the governments, misinformation and disinformation could still be easily found in the Southeast Asian Internet sphere.

Social media have undeniably made sharing medical hoaxes easy, worsened by the public’s lack of awareness about the novel virus.

Adding fuel to the fake news fire in Southeast Asia, click-bait headlines by irresponsible media agencies further amplify the spread of misinformation on the new virus outbreak. On social media, people share information without crosschecking their facts and, at times, coupled with xenophobic remarks aimed at China.
Recommendation

Although Southeast Asian governments take various approaches, efforts will go to waste if the public refuse to play their part in containing the further spread of misinformation and disinformation in the public domain.

I would urge the people to always fact check information obtained, particularly ones shared on social media.

The simplest way to crosscheck is to use Google search on the matter and triangulate information from multiple sources.

Scientists across the world are working hard to find the best vaccine to treat the virus, and the public should play a part by acting on recommendations provided by these professionals and not on random posts on the Internet.

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Nuurrianti Jalli
Senior Lecturer at Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA


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What we learned from dinosaur teeth in North Africa

February 11, 2020
 

Examining the fossilised teeth of dinosaur species like 

Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus can reveal clues about their

 diets and place on the food chain. 

YuRi Photolife/Shutterstock


As dinosaurs go, Spinosaurus is one of the most recognisable: a predator with sharp claws, a long jaw full of teeth, and a big sail on its back. It lived near rivers, hunting for fish, 100 million years ago in a place that’s now desert; the Kem Kem beds, a geological formation in North Africa.

Much like Spinosaurus, most of the dinosaurs that have been found fossilised in the area were supported by that riverine system. The remains of crocodile-like animals and fish are the most common fossil finds, especially in sediments from Morocco, Algeria and Egypt. The ecosystem supported a large community of predatory dinosaurs that ate meat or fish, as well as a minority of plant-eating ones.

Spinosaurus and his carnivorous relatives have gotten a lot of scientific attention, but the plant-eating part of the community has not been much in the spotlight.

I’ve just published a paper in the Journal of African Earth Sciences which compiles all the finds of long-necked, plant-eating (herbivorous) dinosaurs, called sauropods, from the Early Cretaceous period of North Africa.

Most of the fossil finds were teeth, which can tell us about the type of animal, what it ate and whether its location changed over time. The teeth provide information to reconstruct a complete palaeoecosystem. And further research stemming from these teeth finds will allow us to understand more about how different species lived together and where they all fitted into the food chain.

Tracking teeth

These sauropod fossils are, unfortunately, rare. For every sauropod tooth found, about 30 predatory dinosaur (theropod) teeth are found. It’s not clear why there was such an imbalance between the carnivores and the herbivores. It might have to do with the riverine ecosystem, which supported fish-eating and other meat-eating animals more than it did plant-eaters.

Despite the rarity, there is some evidence of the presence of herbivores: ornithopods, two-legged plant-eating dinosaurs (like Spinosaurus they had “sails” on their backs), as well as sauropods, the big, four-legged, long-necked dinosaurs mentioned in the new paper.

We also don’t know why bones were not so well preserved in this area. Only a few instances of more complete skeletons are known so far, from Morocco (Rebbachisaurus garasbae), Tunisia (Tataouinea hannibalis), Niger (Nigersaurus taqueti) and Egypt (Paralititan stromeri).

But teeth are made of harder material than bone: tooth enamel. This hard mineral endures time and burial much better than bone. Another reason teeth are found more often than bones is that sauropods would shed their teeth quite often – every 14 days, in the case of Nigersaurus.

Teeth can reveal a lot about diversity when they are reasonably well-preserved. In our study, we compared all known occurrences of sauropod teeth and found three different types. These were titanosauriform (think Brachiosaurus from the movie Jurassic Park), titanosaurian (a more evolutionary advanced type of the titanosauriform) and rebbachisaurid (something like Brontosaurus, but with a lower neck and broader muzzle). So far, most tooth types can be linked to a type of sauropod that is represented by bone material as well. But there are instances where there are only teeth – a mysterious clue to an unknown type of sauropod.
Diet and migration patterns

Sauropod teeth have been used as a tool to assess migration.

An earlier study I conducted together with sauropod expert Dr Verónica Díez Díaz found similarities between North African and Southern European sauropod tooth types.

Migration in the Early Cretaceous between the two continents (a sort of “island hopping” in the Mediterranean) has been shown in several other studies, and our latest research further confirmed these finds. Some sauropod teeth from North Africa even resemble findings from South America, showing evidence for a common ancestor between the sauropods of these two continents.

Teeth can also tell us about diet, as they are the main tool for gripping and processing food. One tooth of a Moroccan sample, for instance, shows extreme polishing. This suggests the dinosaur species in question had a grit-based, low-browsing diet.

One way to learn about diet is by looking at microwear. These are microscopic scratches on the worn surface of the tooth, where the tooth was grinding together with an opposing tooth, or with food. Coarse microwear, like pits and big, wide scratches, tends to indicate more grit in the diet, and finer microwear – like small scratches – suggests softer vegetation.

Another way to infer diet, or, more broadly, trophic level (where an animal was in the food chain), is to measure trace elements from dental enamel. While they are alive, animals’ bodies take up trace elements through food and water. These elements are stored in their bones and in their teeth. Calcium builds up more than other elements, so the more calcium is present compared with other elements, the higher the animal is in the food chain.

So far, it seems that rebbachisaurs and titanosauriforms had different dietary lifestyles. This makes sense: they were both long-necked dinosaurs, but they differed in neck length, height and posture, so they probably ate different types of vegetation. This would have allowed them to avoid competition with each other.

The next step in the study of the North African fossils is to look at the whole ecosystem using the teeth of both carnivores and herbivores. Isotope analysis has already been done, shedding light on the feeding ecology of Spinosaurus. The next step is to look at strontium trace elements, to find out more about exactly where each animal was in the food chain and how the different dinosaurs coexisted.

Author
 

Femke Holwerda
Postdoctoral researcher, Utrecht University
Disclosure statement
Femke Holwerda is affiliated with Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, and Fachgruppe Paläoumwelt, GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany



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Kenyan fossil shows chameleons may have ‘rafted’ from mainland Africa to Madagascar

February 9, 2020
 

Parsons chameleon, Calumma parsonii, in Andasibe - Analamazaotra

National Park, Madagascar. Artush/Shutterstock

Chameleons (Chamaeleonidae) are a family of unique lizards with unusual characteristics: rapidly extendable tongues, feet with two toes pointing forward and two backward, a prehensile tail, and eyes that can move independently of each other. Many species also have the ability to change the colour of their skin.

There are about 213 species of chameleons in the world. They can be found in Africa, the Middle East, southern India, Sri Lanka and the Mediterranean region of Europe. About half of all species occur in Madagascar, a large African island in the Indian Ocean.

This island is therefore considered to be a centre of diversity for these lizards and there’s a long-held view that chameleons originated on Madagascar and came to mainland Africa through oceanic dispersal: they floated on huge rafts made of trees.

But little is known about how these lizards spread across the world and how they evolved. Their fossil record, the only form of direct evidence about their early evolution and history, is very scant.

A study in 2013 challenged this view. It suggested that chameleons likely originated in mainland Africa, rather than in Madagascar. It did this by analysing genetic information. But a key element was missing: a fossil chameleon of the right age and in the right place. This would give clear evidence of their history and evolution.

My colleagues and I did research on a chameleon fossil skull from Kenya. The fossil was first discovered in 1992.

We wanted to observe all the elements of the fossil’s skull in detail so that we could place its evolutionary history. The results were a surprise: the chameleon was from a genus that only exists in Madagascar today. Our study of this fossil chameleon skull shows that these chameleons could in fact have originated in Africa. This idea is supported by evidence which shows that ocean currents at the time moved towards Madagascar, allowing animals to make the journey from the continent to the island on rafts made of trees.
African origins

The fossil comes from Rusinga Island, a famous fossil site in Kenya. It is one of the oldest chameleon skull fossils, and the only known complete early Miocene (about 18 million years ago) specimen. It is remarkably complete and well-preserved.

However, it’s not been fully freed from the rock and there’s still sediment that fills the whole internal region of the skull. This conceals many bone elements.

We used a micro-CT scanner to give us an x-ray image of all the skull’s internal cavity, including the bones, surfaces and sutures. By looking at these features we could determine which species it most resembled. This modern, non-invasive technology is a very powerful science tool, allowing us to study fossils in a new way.

We found that it was a Calumma species of chameleon – but it was a new one, so we created a new name for it: Calumma benovskyi.

Since all species of this genus are endemic to Madagascar, and none exist anywhere else in the world today, this fossil uniquely shows that Calumma existed on continental Africa in the past.

Our results challenge the long-held view that chameleons originated from Madagascar and dispersed over water to Africa. It provides strong evidence of an African origin for some Malagasy lineages.
Rafting chameleons

At the time when the fossilised chameleon lived, the position of Madagascar relative to Africa was about the same as it is today. The separation of Madagascar from Africa had already occurred, during the age of dinosaurs, approximately 150 million years ago.

The presence of a Malagasy lineage on continental Africa during the early Miocene might appear as a surprise, but other endemic Malagasy animals – such as the Aye-Aye – have had similar patterns. Their fossils have been found on the continent, suggesting an African origin.

The idea is that animals might have used rafts of trees to cross from the continent to the island. Rafting has been suggested for many other lizards, so it is not unusual.

Why couldn’t it have got from Madagascar to Africa in the past? The answer lies with looking at how ocean currents flowed in the past.

With regards to chameleons and Africa, oceanic currents favoured eastward dispersal – away from Africa towards Madagascar – at that time of the Eocene until the end of the early Miocene, between 50 to 15 million years ago. So the dispersal would’ve only been possible towards Madagascar.

A study shows that shortly after the early Miocene, the currents between Africa and Madagascar turned in the opposite direction: westwards, toward Africa. This is what’s happening in present-day surface-water circulation. From the middle Miocene onwards, currents would have hindered a journey to Madagascar for any non-swimming animals.

Madagascar’s isolation from the continent supported the further evolution of its terrestrial animals and its exceptional biodiversity. These chameleons then continued to spread and evolve on the island, accounting for the many different endemic species.

To see the chameleon skull, a big piece of the puzzle for this lizard’s history, you can visit the palaeontology section at the Nairobi National Museum, where it is housed.

Author

Andrej Čerňanský
Scientist, Comenius University, Bratislava
Disclosure statement
Andrej Čerňanský receives funding from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences


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Countering climate denialism requires taking on right-wing populism. Here’s how

February 12, 2020

Environmental activists from Extinction Rebellion protest in Pretoria, South Africa. EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook

History may in due course record 2019 as the year in which the penny finally dropped about the climate emergency humanity faces. A sense of urgency was triggered last year by both Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg’s courage in challenging world leaders to take the crisis seriously, and the apocalyptic fires that engulfed large parts of Australia recently.

Increasingly, there is an understanding that the climate emergency is not an environmental problem. It has grave ecological implications, but it’s a human development issue above all. And, it has profound implications for technology and infrastructure, for the world of investment and finance, and for global security.

To make sense of these challenges and work towards solutions, it is necessary to understand these links, tensions and trade-offs. This is why the international research organisation Future Earth has produced Our Future on Earth 2020. It’s a landmark new report of a dozen sustainability-focused essays. They are written by experts across academia and across the globe.

The consensus among scientists is that we are now in the eleventh hour. That humanity has just ten years to take the transformational steps necessary to avoid catastrophe.

Will it get its act together?

Unfortunately, there is a harsh political economy. My own contribution to the Our Future on Earth report focuses on the impact of the global rise in right-wing populism on climate action. This breed of politics exploits peoples’ fears during times of economic decline and growing inequality, and focuses on nationalist tendencies.

Right-wing populism and denialism

In a complex world facing complex problems, it is seductive for politicians to identify a single culprit (like immigrants) or an evil force (like universal healthcare) to blame for the erosion of society, the economy, and the welfare of the masses.

This is hardly ever true, but it is compelling. Take the bewilderingly complicated set of relationships between food, energy, urban infrastructure, and exponential demographic growth and change (at least in the developing world). Climate change and its effects are perhaps the epitome of a complex issue of interlinked social, political, and physical forces. That makes it an easy target for this sort of denialism.

So, populism ends up denying not just the science of climate change but also the complexity of the entire issue – which is critical for both diagnosing the problem and determining the prognosis and the prescription.

Populism strips issues of nuance, and thereby obstructs progress.

A 2019 study mapping the climate agendas of right-wing populist parties in Europe contains some revealing evidence: two thirds of right-wing populist members of the European Parliament “regularly vote against climate and energy policy measures”. Half of all votes against resolutions on climate and energy in the European Parliament come from right-wing populist party members.

Of the 21 right-wing populist parties analysed, seven were found to

deny climate change, its anthropogenic causes, and negative consequences.

According to estimates based on the World Resources Institute’s global greenhouse-gas emissions data, about 30% of global emissions come from countries with populist leaders.

At the very moment when global cooperation is essential if climate action is to be effective, many of the leaders of these right-wing populist forces are trying to dismantle or weaken multilateral organisations such as the United Nations or the European Union.

These political groups threaten to derail progress on the global response to climate change, and on new thinking about how to rewire the economy in pursuit of a more sustainable world.

More hopefully, as grassroots organisations emerge as a potentially strong, countervailing force, the trick will be to effectively connect these movements to matters of global social justice. They should also be given enough coherence to be effective. Thus, again, shifting the lens for the climate crisis away from an environmental preoccupation towards human development and social justice.

For example, how can Thunberg and the student strike movement in the global north connect with the 1.6 million children that are displaced in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique from cyclones? Such connections need to be made to turn these nascent movements into powerful advocates for climate justice.

Tipping the scale

Regardless of whether the political will needed take transformational action to drastically reduce carbon emission and adapt economies and societies, especially in the global South, will be summoned by 2030, it is clear that by the end of this century life on earth will be very different to how it is now. It will certainly be more difficult and dangerous.

This applies to everyone, but especially the poorest and most vulnerable members of a human society that is set to peak at around 9,8 billion by 2050 (up from the current 7,8bn).

This is the human development challenge for sub-Saharan Africa.

It’s not all doom and gloom. There are huge opportunities amid the grave threats. A first step to responding appropriately – individually and collectively – is understanding that the challenge is multi-dimensional. Only then can a multi-dimensional strategy be executed, across sectors and across national boundaries.

But it is likely that the greatest impediment to taking action will not be technological know-how or even raising the money required. Instead it will be the lack of enough political will, given the obstructionism of right-wing populists in power around the globe.

Hence, a political struggle will need to be won. And the fight for climate justice in the face of right-wing populist climate denialism is a titanic one.

Trump-like trajectories into the “post-truth” world of climate change denial, charged by the amplifying impact of social media, distract from and obstruct the necessary action. Yet despite its flaws, the digital age presents a huge opportunity to impose a counter-narrative, and for recruiting new activists.

People can connect more easily across seas and time zones. Climate denialism can be rebutted and populist rhetoric rebuffed. Protests can be arranged quickly. And the young will do it best, not least because they have the deepest vested interest of all: their future is at stake.

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Author
Richard Calland
Associate Professor in Public Law, University of Cape Town
Disclosure statement

Richard Calland is a Founding Partner in political risk consultancy, The Paternoster Group, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution.

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