UN experts slam online attacks on Indian journalist


Mon, 21 February 2022

UN rights experts have called for an end to 'misogynistic and sectarian' online attacks against Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, seen here in 2016 

(AFP/CHANDAN KHANNA) (CHANDAN KHANNA)

UN rights experts have called for an end to "misogynistic and sectarian" online attacks against a Muslim Indian woman journalist, asking the authorities to investigate the harassment.

Rana Ayyub, a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Hindu nationalist ideology of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been the target of a relentless campaign of online abuse -- including death and rape threats.

She is the "victim of intensifying attacks and threats online by far-right Hindu nationalist groups", the independent rapporteurs, who do not speak for the United Nations but are mandated to report to it, said in a statement Monday.

They said these attacks were in response to Ayyub's reporting on issues affecting India's minority Muslims, her criticism of the government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, and her commentary on the recent hijab ban at schools and colleges in the southern state of Karnataka.

The rapporteurs added that the Indian government had failed to condemn or investigate the attacks.

She "has been subjected to legal harassment by the Indian authorities in relation to her reporting", they said, including the freezing of her bank account and other assets.

Ayyub, 37, began as an investigative journalist and wrote a book accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being complicit in deadly sectarian violence in Gujarat in 2002, when he was state premier.

Investigators cleared Modi of involvement.

She has since become a commentator for The Washington Post and other media.

This week, the Post put out a full-page advert saying Ayyub faces threats almost daily and that the free press is "under attack" in India.

The Indian mission at the UN in Geneva tweeted in response to the rapporteurs' statement that allegations of "so-called judicial harassment are baseless & unwarranted", and that advancing "a misleading narrative only tarnishes" the UN's reputation.

Other journalists have also complained of increased harassment under Modi, whose government has been accused of trying to silence critical reporting.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders places India at a lowly 142 in its World Press Freedom Index, saying that under Modi, "pressure has increased on the media to toe the Hindu nationalist government's line".

"The coordinated hate campaigns waged on social networks against journalists who dare to speak or write about subjects that annoy Hindutva (hardline Hindu ideology) followers are terrifying and include calls for the journalists concerned to be murdered," according to RSF.

"The campaigns are particularly violent when the targets are women."

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Prominent anti-China activist arrested in Mongolia

Tue, 22 February 2022

Mongolian campaigner Munkhbayar Chuluundorj (pictured in 2015) was arrested Friday on suspicion of 'receiving instructions and funds from a foreign intelligence group', the country's spy agency said (AFP/Johannes EISELE) (Johannes EISELE)

A prominent anti-China activist has been arrested in Mongolia, part of what campaigners have said is a wider effort to "clean up" Beijing's critics in the country.

Landlocked Mongolia is dependent on mineral exports to its giant neighbours, Russia and China, but there have also been protests in the capital Ulaanbaatar over Beijing's language policy in Inner Mongolia.

Critics of the policy in the Chinese border region -- home to an estimated 4.5 million ethnic Mongolians -- say it mirrors moves in other areas such as Xinjiang and Tibet to assimilate local minorities into the dominant Han culture and eradicate minority languages.

Munkhbayar Chuluundorj was arrested Friday in Ulaanbaatar on suspicion of "receiving instructions and funds from a foreign intelligence group", the country's spy agency said.

The General Intelligence Agency (GIA) said he had "engaged in illegal cooperation activities" but gave no more details.

Campaigners said they suspected Munkhbayar's comments on China had brought him under official scrutiny.

In Facebook posts, he recently called for the Mongolian prime minister to resign over his close relationship with Beijing, saying "our nation's independence will be lost and all citizens of Mongolia will become slaves of China".

Footage of the arrest published by Mongolian outlet Eguur News showed a man being led away by armed police down a shop-lined road.

Visits from relatives are being denied and a closed-door trial is being held, the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre, an overseas NGO that advocates for ethnic Mongols, quoted his brother Munkh-erdene as saying.

The NGO said Munkhbayar is "one of the most vocal critics of the Mongolian government's cosy relationship with China".

Munkhbayar has "defended Inner Mongolian human rights, culture, history and land rights", according to Baljinima Bai, a language rights advocate originally from Inner Mongolia.

"Mongolia has started to 'clean up' these people... who oppose China," he told AFP.

Bai said he had also been summoned for questioning by the GIA in relation to Munkhbayar's case.

Inner Mongolian activists in Mongolia say they have faced threats and intimidation from authorities after a widespread protest movement against Chinese-language curriculum reforms across the border was met with a harsh police crackdown.

Activists also say China has pressured Mongolia to deport Inner Mongolian political refugees back to the country.

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GERMANY

Climate change activists block Hamburg port bridge

"Uprising of the Last Generation" is protesting Germany's high level of food waste, among other issues. The group said they have taken to more drastic measures after years of marching the streets and signing petitions. 

Activisits targeted the harbor because a huge amount of Germany's food imports pass through it

A group of young activists blocked a busy road in Hamburg on Monday, as rush-hour traffic was underway, to raise awareness about environmental issues.

The organization, known as "Uprising of the Last Generation," is comprised of climate change and environmental activists who have chosen to highlight the need for change through hunger strikes and road blockades. 

In Hamburg, protesters glued their hands onto the pavement to block the Köhlbrand bridge, while others barricaded the onramp as well as the nearby Kattwyck bridge.

What's behind the demonstrations?  

On Sunday, Uprising warned they planned to carry out disruptive protests, targeting airports and ports if the government does not commit to more legal measures aimed at preventing food waste. 

The activists are urging the German government to do more to reduce food waste

Germany throws away more food per capita than any other EU nation.

"We wish such a step were not necessary," Carla Hinrichs, a group spokesperson, told an online press conference, adding that if the government did not give a specific date to introduce a "food rescue law" in the Bundestag, the group would be forced to "stand up for everyone's survival" through what it described as civil resistance.

Demonstrators have said they also plan to target airports, not only in Hamburg but in Berlin and Munich as well.

Another group spokesperson, Aimee van Baalen, told Deutschlandfunk radio that they had decided to move to more drastic measures after years of "signing petitions and marching on the streets" had done little to bring about the changes necessary "to save humanity from environmental collapse."

jcg, es/wd (dpa, EPD)

EU sanctions target major Myanmar energy company

Brussels has imposed sanctions on 22 Myanmar officials and a state- owned oil and gas company that has been a major source of funding for the ruling junta.

Chaos and violence has gripped Myanmar since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021

The European Union has expanded its sanctions on Myanmar's military junta to include several key officials and four entities tied to the regime, as the bloc continues its response to last year's coup. 

It also targeted the lucrative, state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).

MOGE is seen as a major source of revenue for the junta. 

The military junta's brutal crackdown on resistance to its rule has drawn global condemnation. However, previous rounds of US and European sanctions against the junta have excluded oil and gas. 

"The European Union is deeply concerned by the continuing escalation of violence in Myanmar and the evolution towards a protracted conflict with regional implications," a statement read. 

"Since the military coup, the situation has continuously and gravely deteriorated."

The EU in its statement repeated called for "an immediate cessation of all hostilities, and an end to the disproportionate use of force and the state of emergency."

Asset freezes and travel bans were imposed on Monday on 22 people, including the ministers for investment, industry and information, officials at the election commission and senior military officials. 

Oil and gas company now on list of sanctions

Human rights groups in Myanmar and around the world had argued that slapping MOGE with sanctions would slash a crucial source of the military's funds.

According to government forecasts, revenues from natural gas account for nearly 50% of the Myanmar's foreign currency inflows. 

MOGE is also expected to earn $1.5 billion from offshore and pipeline projects in 2021-2022, the forecast said.

The sanctions on MOGE come a month after energy giants Total Energies and Chevron said they were exiting Myanmar over human rights abuse. 

MOGE was a venture partner in offshore gas projects, including the Yadana gas field.

There are now 65 officials and 10 companies on the EU list of sanctions.

Myanmar's military grabbed power from the democratically elected government in February 2021.

Armed resistance has followed the military takeover after widespread nonviolent protests were put down.

Over 1,500 people are reported to have been tortured or killed in the violence.

dvv/wmr (AFP, AP)

Greece: UN calls for end to 'deplorable' migrant pushbacks

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees slammed not only Greece but all European governments, saying the "deplorable" and illegal acts towards asylum seekers were being "normalized."

Greece is one of the top destinations for migrants in Europe

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, said on Monday that his agency was "alarmed" by the "recurrent and consistent reports" claiming that the Greek coast guard is failing to assist refugees at sea.

At their worst, the reports suggest that some Greek sailors have left migrants in unsafe, overcrowded boats and in some cases even throwing people into the sea off the coast of the island of Samos, near the Greek-Turkish border. 

"Violence, ill-treatment and pushbacks continue to be regularly reported at multiple entry points at land and sea borders, within and beyond the European Union despite repeated calls ... to end such practices," Grandi said in a statement.

The UNHCR had recorded nearly 540 reported incidents of informal returns by Greece since the start of 2020. In his statement, Grandi said he feared that these "deplorable" acts were becoming "normalized."

Where else are pushbacks reportedly occurring? 

Pushbacks have also been occurring in other central and southeastern European countries, Grandi said.

"What is happening at European borders is legally and morally unacceptable and must stop. Protecting human life, human rights and dignity must remain our shared priority," he added.

The UNHCR has admonished all EU governments for failing to react to the violent reports, accusing them of preferring to erect walls and barriers than protect human life.

Grandi pointed out that not only does everyone have the right to claim asylum, but these measures would also do little to deter people fleeing war, persecution, or famine.

But, he said, they would surely "contribute to greater suffering of individuals in need of international protection, particularly women and children, and prompt them to consider different, often more dangerous routes and likely result in further deaths."

es/wd (AFP, dpa)

Italy: New Etna eruption spews ash and closes airport

Mount Etna, one of Europe's most active volcanoes, belched a pillar of smoke 12 kilometers high. The incident follows a spectacular eruption just days prior.

    

A tower of volcanic ash rose miles into the skies above Sicily, blanketing the countryside and

 disrupting air traffic

Mount Etna blasted a massive 12-kilometer-high (7.5-mile) pillar of volcanic ash into the sky over the Italian island of Sicily on Monday.

Scientists from Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in Catania say activity centered on a lava flow on the mountain's southeast slope.

Ash from the eruption blanketed nearby towns according to Italy's civil protection agency but there have been no immediate reports of injuries or property damage.

Earlier Monday, authorities issued a warning for aircraft in the area.

Vincenzo Bellini international airport in nearby Catania closed at lunchtime Monday due to the eruption, the airport tweeted. Limited air traffic has since resumed but will be "restricted until the end of the #Etna emergency," the tweet said.

  

Why did Etna erupt?

Mount Etna sits on a 1,190 square km (459 square miles) base situated over the convergence of the African and Eurasian continental plates. It is one of Europe's tallest and most active volcanoes.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Etna was known as the home of Vulcan, arms supplier to the gods

Etna's volcanic activity has been well-documented throughout history. Perhaps its most-devastating eruption occurred in 1669, when lava consumed dozens of villages and proceeded to bury large sections of Catania, the biggest city in the eastern part of the island.

Earlier this February, a particularly powerful eruption spewed geysers of lava rocketing forth into the night sky over Sicily and the mountain has remained highly active ever since.

INGV scientists have recorded a gradual uptick in seismic tremors caused by escaping gases, which they say could be an indication that Etna is heading toward another spectacular burst of fiery lava fountaining, or paroxysmal volcanic activity.

Experts at INGV believe the eruption was caused by an accumulation of magma, noting that the same situation occurred about a year ago, albeit with more magma buildup. By October, Etna had erupted another 50 times.

Constant seismic activity have created new fractures in the mountain, opening new craters

js/wd (AFP, AP, dpa)

25 years of Dolly: What’s become of the world’s first cloned sheep?

Dolly the infamous sheep was cloned 25 years ago. Since then, major progress has been made in stem cell research. And lots of other animals have been cloned ― including, yes, pets.

    

Professor Sir Ian Wilmut, the scientist whose team created Dolly

Twenty-five years ago today, a sheep named Dolly became the first animal to be cloned, using an adult somatic cell.

The Dolly experiment blew up in the news across the globe. It changed the world of stem cell research ― and on a more personal level, kept the institute that hosted the experiment alive.

"From a personal point of view, one of the most important things that came from Dolly was the survival of the research institute that I work in," Alan Archibald, who was part of the 1996 experiment facilitated by the UK's Roslin Institute, told DW with a laugh.

"We were facing government cuts. And the money we made by selling the intellectual property to Dolly kept us going until we found alternative sources of money."

How Dolly was cloned

Dolly was cloned using a cell taken from another sheep's mammary gland. She was born in July 1996 with a white face ― a clear sign she'd been cloned, because if she'd been related to her surrogate mother, she'd have had a black face.

Researchers named her Dolly after Dolly Parton, who is known for her large "mammary glands" ― breasts.

Dolly was the only baby sheep to be born live out of a total of 277 cloned embryos.

She gave birth to six babies and died of lung disease at the age of six. 

Biggest developments since

"It changed the scientific world's view about how flexible [cell] development was," said Archibald. "There was a view that once a fertilized egg had developed into a multicellular animal, into liver cells and blood cells and brain cells, for those…cells, that was it, it was a dead end. There was no way back to alternative places for those cells to be. So the reprogramming that was critical to the Dolly experiment stood long-standing scientific dogma on its head."

Dolly's cloning helped lead to the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of iPS cells by a team led by Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka.

This is likely the most important development in stem cell research to result from Dolly's cloning, Dr. Robin Lovell-Badge, who heads the Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute in London, told DW.

IPS cells offer a way to model human disease and are currently being used in biological research about premature aging, cancer and heart disease. 

Dolly the sheep was cloned 25 years ago today

Additionally, Archibald said the genetically modified heart that was used in the world's first pig-to-human heart transplant procedure in January was created using Dolly's technology. 

Cloning of humans

Although a human embryo was successfully cloned in 2013, there's been no progress made so far to clone an entire human being.

But monkeys have been replicated: in China, Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua became the first primates to be cloned using the Dolly technique in January 2018.

Out of nearly 150 cloned embryos, the monkeys' surrogate mothers were the only ones to deliver live babies. 

Some progress has also been made to clone animals on the verge of extinction. US researchers successfully cloned the black footed ferret in 2021 and the endangered Przewalski's horse in 2020.

Efforts are currently underway to clone the wooly mammoth, the giant panda and the northern white rhino.

ANIMAL CLONES: DOLLY, MINI-WINNIE AND CO.

          Dolly - the one who started it all 

This woolly miracle started out in a test tube and was born on July 5, 1996, to three mothers - one provided the egg, the second the DNA and the third was the surrogate. Dolly was the world's first mammal cloned from an adult cell. The sheep that made history lived to be six, when she was put down after developing a lung disease. Dolly is on display at Edinburgh's National Museum of Scotland.   12345678

Key to producing more food

Along with cell-cloning's ability to study diseases, animal cloning allows major industry farms to produce more food.

The US Food and Drug Administration allows the cloning of cattle, pigs and goats and their offspring for the production of meat and milk. In 2008, the agency said the food is as safe as food derived from non-cloned animals ― and thus doesn't need to be labeled. 

Dolly's body is now on display at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh

It's unclear how much meat and milk derived from cloned animals is sold in US markets.

The practice isn't allowed in Europe ― in 2015, the European Parliament voted to ban the cloning of all farm animals.

But that doesn't mean lab experiments aren't being facilitated on EU grounds, said Lovell-Badge.

"The field where the cloning procedures are actively being pursued (including in Germany) is for agricultural animals as a way to help generate or propagate pigs or cattle with valuable genetic characteristics," he told DW.

For example, he said, cells from an animal could be edited by scientists. Then the cloning methods could be used to derive animals carrying the new genetic trait, such as disease resistance, or to make them more suitable as organ donors for humans.   

Cloning of pets

A small industry has been created around the cloning of pets. Examples include the company ViaGen in the US, Sinogene in China, and ​​Sooam Biotech in South Korea.

Snuppy the dog was cloned in 2005 in South Korea, Garlic the cat in July 2019 in China, and US singer Barbra Streisand's Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett after her dog Samantha died in 2017.

"The justification for doing this is to ‘replace a lost much-loved pet'," said Lovell-Badge. "However, this is nonsense." 

Dolly's cloning accelerated stem cell research

He said that although it's true that the cloned animal will essentially have the same genomic DNA as the original pet, animals "aren't simply a product of [their] DNA."

Even if the cloning is successful, an animal's nature is partly determined by its genes, but also by its environment, which means a clone will never be the exact same as the original animal, he said.

Archibald added that although cloning technology is more efficient now than when Dolly was made, the process is still pretty inefficient.

"You would need a lot of female individuals to lay the eggs that would be used in the process," he said.

How landmines prevent Iraq's displaced people from returning home

With several million pieces of mines and explosives lying under the rubble and soil across Iraq, many internally displaced people prefer living in camps to returning home.


Iraq remains among the countries most contaminated by landmines and explosive remnants of war, despite decades of clearance efforts

"It happened to one of my uncles two years ago. As a shepherd, he used to take his flock out in the field. One day, he stepped on a landmine that was hidden under the soil. As a result, he was left severely disabled."

This is only one of the stories that Leyla Murad, a 22-year-old Iraqi woman, can recount about landmines destroying people's lives. "I have a dozen of them; stories of adults, children and animals shredded into pieces by mines," she told DW.

Originally from Sinjar, a region in northwest Iraq, Murad and her family have been living in the Essian camp for internally displaced people In Ninewa province for eight years. In August 2014, as the "Islamic State" (IS) was rapidly advancing in Sinjar, they left everything behind and ran for their lives.

Layla shares three smallish cabin rooms with her parents, three adult siblings and their grandmother. This has been their home for the last eight years. "It looks nothing like our village house, which we left behind," she said.

Leyla Murad's photo from Essian camp for internally displaced people, where she lives with her family

Even though the war ended five years ago, moving back to their village is not an option for the Murad family, as is also the case for thousands of other Iraqis living in such camps.

"There is nothing left there but ruins, full of explosives," Murad said. "My uncle returned home, but it was a big mistake."
The most mine-polluted country in the world

Scattered across almost every corner of Iraq are millions of landmines, buried in the farms, roads and fields.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines classifies Iraq as the world's most contaminated country with mines.

Every year, dozens of Iraqis lose their lives due to explosion of mines and military debris; while about 8.5 million out of 41 million Iraqis live under this threat, UN Mine Action Service data shows.

Various conflicts have devastated the nation since the early 1980s, each adding to the extent and density of its mine pollution. The 1980s Iran-Iraq War, Saddam Hussein's war against the Iraqi Kurds, the 1991 Gulf War, and the 2003 US-led invasion left behind vast minefields and unexploded cluster munitions.

IS planted numerous improvised explosive devices or handmade mines, such as these pictured, in areas it once controlled

Most recent was IS's pervasive, industrial-scale use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and many inactivated mortar and artillery ammunition remain amid the rubble from clashes between the insurgent group and Iraqi government forces.
A long way to go

Iraqis have been removing mines from their land for decades, but there has been a lack of clearance work in places where IS formerly had taken control, Paul MacCann, the communications manager of Halo Trust, a philanthropic organization that clears mines and explosive debris, told DW.

"The type of mines IS built tend to be a 20-liter (5.2 gallons) plastic cooking oil container filled with homemade explosives, a detonator, a battery and a switch," MacCann pointed out. "The switch is something that people could stand on or drive over that will initiate the explosion."

Recently, in a single minefield next to an oil refinery around the town of Baiji in northern Iraq, the organization removed about 700 IEDs, while another hundred pieces were collected in other parts of the town.

"In addition to the IEDs, we're also helping to clear buildings which may have been bombed in the fighting," MacCann said. "These buildings usually contain unexploded cluster munitions, shells that didn't go off during the war. They are covered by piles of concrete and rubble and need to be handled very carefully."

Due to the large scale of contamination, the organizations has had to "industrialize the process of clearing, using armored vehicles," MacCann noted.

Bombarded buildings like this one might house unexploded shells

But it takes months for a single minefield to be cleaned and years before Iraq's many minefields disappear. In December, Iraq's environment minister, Jassem Al-Falahi, was quoted by the state news agency INA as saying the nation will get rid of the minefields created during the war against IS by the end of 2028.

For Iraq's remaining 1.2 million IDPs, that means that camps are safer places to live for years to come.
War has ended, but peace has not been achieved

"Landmine contamination is not the only reason why Iraqis are reluctant to return home," Mustafa Laith Qassim, a journalist and aid worker with the Rafidain Youth Movement, an Iraqi charity for IDPs, told DW.

"For example, occasionally clashes break out between the militias that used to fight IS, both in Kurdish areas and the rest of Iraq, putting civilian lives in danger," he said. "Sometimes people feel they have nothing to return to, after seeing houses, schools and hospitals leveled to the ground."


mine pollution hampers reconstruction efforts, discouraging thousands of internally displaced families who hope to return home

"But the mine problem is particularly disheartening," he continued. "Because in addition to being serious safety risks, mines and explosives hinder the reconstruction and development of the contaminated areas."

Over a quarter of explosive ordnance contamination is located in Iraq's agricultural areas, preventing farmers from using their lands to feed their families, according to a UNMAS report. Another 20% affects infrastructure, interrupting reconstruction efforts to reopen businesses. An additional 20% have been planted along the roads, potentially isolating the nearby towns and villages from the rest of the country.

"When there are landmines and unexploded weapons, people don't believe that peace has fully been achieved," said MacCann. "It feels like the war is still continuing."

That is exactly how Leyla Murad feels.

"We have witnessed too many people getting killed in Sinjar in peacetime," she said. "Too many want to take the risk of returning home."

Leyla spends her days pursuing photography, making DIY crafts, and learning new skills. She has joined an NGO called Lotus flower, which focuses on the well-being of the camp's women and girls. "I have my whole life here now."

"My family and I would have loved to go back to our home one day, knowing we would be safe," she said." but honestly I don't see that coming."

Edited by: Rob Mudge

Anti-vaccine protesters camped outside New Zealand's Parliament are beginning to attack police


Peter Weber, Senior editor
Tue, February 22, 2022,

Protesters and police in New Zealand Dave lintott/AFP/Getty Image

Blasting "Baby Shark" and turning on the sprinklers didn't dislodge a group of protesters against COVID-19 vaccine requirements who have been camped outside New Zealand's Parliament building for two weeks, copying the tactics from Canadian "Freedom Convoy" blockades. So, as in Canada, police have started moving in to push back the well-organized protests. And on Tuesday, one protester nearly drove into a line of officers, police in Wellington said.

About 250 officers arrived at dawn to move concrete barriers and tighten the cordon around the protest encampment, The Associated Press reports. Hundreds of cars and trucks are blocking the streets of Wellington, the capital, and police have used the barriers to allow protesters to drive away but not enter the area. In video posted online, a white car is seen driving the wrong way toward a group of officers, then stopping short as police scramble out of the way.

Police said the officers, who jumped into the car and pulled out the driver, were lucky to have escaped unharmed. Three people were arrested, one for driving in a dangerous manner and two for obstructing police. Some other protesters sprayed an unknown substance at officers who are recovering in the hospital, Police Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers told reporters. On Monday, police said, some protesters flung feces at officers.


"Our focus remains on opening the roads up to Wellingtonians and doing our absolute best to restore peaceful protest," Chambers said. "The behavior of a certain group within the protest community is absolutely disgraceful." Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said "what's happening in Wellington is wrong" and that it's time for the protesters to go home.

The protesters are seeking an end to some or all of New Zealand's COVID-19 mitigation measures, including requirements that certain workers get vaccinated and vaccine passes to get into many restaurants and shops. The country is experiencing its first big COVID-19 outbreak, with a new high of 2,800 cases reported Tuesday. Just one COVID-19 patient was hospitalized in the ICU, though, and New Zealand has reported a pandemic total of 56 coronavirus deaths, AP reports. About 77 percent of New Zealand's 5 million residents are vaccinated.

 

Forests Vital For Green Recovery In The Asia-Pacific Region

Tuesday, 22 February 2022
Press Release: UN FAO

22 February 2022, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – The ways in which forests can contribute to COVID-19 pandemic recovery will be in focus as FAO’s Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) meets this week.

Leading forestry experts and policy makers from 34 member countries will explore the immense opportunities for the forestry sector to promote a more inclusive, productive and greener economic recovery, and support the transition towards a healthier and more resilient Asia-Pacific region.

The 29th session of the APFC is being hosted online this year by the Government of Mongolia under the theme ‘Forests and green recovery in Asia-Pacific’.

"To build back better from the pandemic, we need to accelerate actions to turn the tide on deforestation and forest degradation, enhance sustainable use and production and restoration, and support the forestry sector’s contribution to agri-food systems transformation," said FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo, opening the meeting today.

Moving forward

Specific actions in the spotlight will include boosting forest and landscape restoration under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 and building sustainable forestry value chains by providing incentives and support for small-scale operators and local communities.

“There are many entry points for forests and forestry to contribute to green recovery by restoring and creating jobs and increasing social protection in the short term, and by supporting economic growth in the medium term,” said APFC Secretary Sheila Wertz-Kanounnikoff. “In the long run, the forestry sector can help the global economy transition toward a more equitable, resilient, sustainable and carbon-neutral future,” she added. 

The Chair of the 29th session of the APFC, Oyunsanaa Byambasuren, also highlighted that many countries in the region are now keen to accelerate economic recovery after the pandemic, and that forestry can offer important pathways to that end.

APFC-29 will also be an opportunity to review the state of forestry in the Asia-Pacific region and mainstream forestry into work on sustainable agri-food systems.

The meeting comes amid a global push to build back “better and greener” after the COVID-19 pandemic, and a renewed emphasis on the importance of forests and Indigenous People and local communities in the fight against climate change, as expressed at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in November last year. 

More than 140 countries, including 23 APFC member countries, signed the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use, signalling strong commitment for action.

This week’s deliberations will feed into the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific to be held in March, particularly as regards to regional priorities for sustainable natural resources management for biodiversity conservation and climate action. Discussions will also contribute to shaping the XV World Forestry Congress, to be held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in May, and the 26th Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO 26) in October. 

Forests in Asia-Pacific

The total forest area in APFC member countries in 2020 was 751 million hectares, 18.5 percent of the global forest area. The region’s forests provide homes and sources of livelihoods to hundreds of millions of people as well as generating national wealth and economic advancement through trade of forest products.

According to FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment, the forest area in the region increased by 31.3 million hectares over the period 1990-2020, largely due to a growth in planted forests.

However, gains in forest area were spread unevenly, with 17 countries reporting a decline in forest area during the same period. Although offset by areas of forest expansion, Asia-Pacific currently loses 2.2 million hectares of forest a year to deforestation.

Created in 1949, the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission is one of six regional forestry commissions established by FAO to provide a policy and technical forum for countries to discuss and address forest issues on a regional basis. 

This year’s host country, Mongolia, has committed to supporting the fight against climate change and desertification with a pledge, announced at the UN General Assembly in September 2021, to plant one billion trees by 2030.  

https://www.fao.org/asiapacific/news/detail-events/en/c/1473130/

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