November 8, 2024
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J. Tuyet Nguyen, a journalist with years of experience, has covered major stories in New York City and the United Nations for United Press International, the German Press Agency dpa and various newspapers. His reports focused mostly on topics with international interests for readers worldwide. He was president of the United Nations Correspondents Association (2007 and 2008), which is composed of more than 250 journalists representing world media with influence over policy decision makers. He has chaired the organization of the annual UNCA Awards, which seeks to reward journalists around the world who have done the best broadcasts and written reports on the UN and its specialized agencies. He has traveled the world to cover events and write stories, from politics to the environment as well cultures of different regions. But his most important reporting work has been with the United Nations since the early 1980s. He was bureau chief of United Press International office at the UN headquarters before joining dpa in 1997. Prior to working at the UN, he was an editor on the International Desk of UPI World Headquarters in New York. He worked in Los Angeles and covered the final months of war in Vietnam for UPI.

How Many Fish in the Sea?

Leave a Comment / Ecology /

New tool will help census oceans from surface to seafloor, monitor fish, track shifting marine life due to climate change, around coral reefs, aquaculture or wind farms, oil rigs, and more

Contact: Terry Collins, +1-416-878-8712, tc@tca.tc

In brief:

A new study proves DNA in seawater reveals not just species diversity but the relative biomass of ocean fish roughly as well as a “gold standard” US state government trawl with nets.

The Rockefeller University, Monmouth University, New Jersey Bureau of Marine Fisheries study certifies “fishing for DNA” as an important new inexpensive and harmless complement to nets, acoustics and other tools to monitor fish stocks and/or the shifting diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life.

The paper, “Trawl and eDNA Assessment of Marine Fish Diversity, Seasonality, and Relative Abundance in Coastal New Jersey, U.S.A.” to appear in the Oxford University Press ICES Journal of Marine Science, is available for preview on request.

“eDNA makes the ocean a sea of biological information”

DNA bits in seawater samples drawn during New Jersey government fish trawls reveals relative abundance of fish with a 70% match between the two sampling methods

In addition to great concordance, study finds that each method yields information missed by the other

Message in a bottle: DNA in 1 litre of seawater = a trawl sweep of 66 million litres, enough to fill a sports stadium to top of goalposts

Proposed “Great American Fish Count,” involving citizen scientists collecting waters samples, could set stage for 2nd global Census of Marine Life during upcoming UN Oceans Decade

Humanity is a step closer to answering one of the most ancient of questions — “how many fish in the sea?” — thanks to newly published proof that the amount of fish DNA collected in a water sample closely corresponds to kilos of fish captured in a trawl with nets.

In a breakthrough study, scientists report that floating bits of DNA found in small water samples reveal the relative biomass of fish in the sea roughly as well as a “gold standard” US state government trawl with nets.

The researchers drew seawater samples during New Jersey government fish trawls and tested the water for fish DNA. Analysis of the water was able to reveal the relative abundance of fish with a 70% match in results between the two sampling methods. In addition to the great concordance between methods, the study found that each sampling method yielded information missed by the other.

While environmental DNA (“eDNA”) has been proven before as a reliable way to determine the variety of fish in an area of water, the new study is the first to show that bits of eDNA floating in seawater also disclose the relative abundance of the species swimming through it.

Published by the prestigious ICES Journal of Marine Science, the paper certifies “fishing for DNA” as an inexpensive, harmless complement to nets, acoustics and other established ways to monitor the health of fish stocks and/or the shifting diversity, distribution and abundance of aquatic life.

The paper, a collaboration between The Rockefeller University, Monmouth University, and the New Jersey Bureau of Marine Fisheries, says the information about the diversity and relative abundance of fish available in a one-litre sample is comparable to a 66 million litre trawl sweep, enough seawater to fill a football stadium to the top of the goalposts.

During four voyages by the New Jersey Ocean Trawl Survey in 2019 aboard the research vessel “Sea Wolf,” scientists led by Dr. Mark Stoeckle, Senior Research Associate at The Rockefeller University Program for the Human Environment, drew one-litre pop-bottle sized water samples from various depths just before the trawler’s nets were lowered.

Profound implications

The finding has profound implications for improving global fisheries management and has led to early proposals for a “Great American Fish Count” in rivers and coastal waters, aided by millions of citizen scientists, comparable to Audubon’s Great Backyard Bird Counts.

Fish and other organisms shed DNA like dandruff, Dr. Stoeckle explains, leaving an invisible trail wherever they swim. This environmental DNA can be skin cells, droppings, urine, eggs, and other biological residues that last in the ocean for a few days.

One year of eDNA sampling, out-of-pocket costs: $12,000

The eDNA process is straightforward and extremely inexpensive compared with traditional marine life monitoring methods, which involve ships with large crews and hand counts.

Co-author Zachary Charlop-Powers at The Rockefeller University, lead developer of the software used in the DNA analyses, explains that eDNA testing involves collecting and filtering a water sample, extracting and sequencing the DNA in a laboratory, then matching the results found in an online DNA reference library.

“The bioinformatic tools used by the team are the same ‘barcode’ analysis pipelines commonly used by microbiologists but were adapted for the study of marine vertebrates.”

He notes too that the year of sampling and DNA extraction required an investment of just $12,000, exclusive of salaries.

“The applications of environmental DNA in the marine realm are vast,” says Dr. Stoeckle, a Harvard-educated MD who helped pioneer DNA “barcoding,” the identification of species from a small region of the animal’s DNA sequence.

“eDNA offers a low-cost way to monitor the effectiveness of a marine protected area, for example, or whether efforts to restore a coral reef are succeeding. It could reveal the ecological effects of marine industrial activities, including offshore wind farms, oil and gas rigs, and commercial and recreational fishing.”           

Adds Dr. Stoeckle: To put this in perspective, if we thought of a trawl as a full medical CAT or MRI scan, then eDNA can be thought of as a pocket ultrasound–it can be carried and used anywhere in the hospital, without the time and expense of scheduling a full-scale exam. And eDNA surveys will become better and more informative every year as the technique improves and the DNA reference library grows.

Says co-author Dr. Jason Adolf, Endowed Associate Professor of Marine Science, Monmouth University: “eDNA could also be used to identify life in ocean regions hard to access with trawls, such as very rocky areas, or places too deep or too shallow.”

Monmouth co-author Dr. Keith J. Dunton, an expert on endangered fish species, notes that the results are promising for rare as well as common fish species.

“eDNA along with other technologies like acoustic telemetry offers a sensitive, non-extractive way to monitor declines and revivals of rare, threatened, and endangered species,” he says. “We do not have to put them through stressful capturing to know that they are there.”

Trawl surveys, the main tool used to monitor fish populations, have carefully established protocols and yield rich information but are costly, time-consuming, and require special equipment and fish identification experts. Due to the crew size needed, such trawls have been limited recently by COVID-19.

The New Jersey surveys every season involve deploying a bottom trawl, similar to that used in commercial fishing, behind a vessel over a predetermined pattern. The catches in the nets are hauled up and sorted on tables where the weight of each identified species is recorded. Between 30 and 40 trawls are done about every three months.

To compare the trawl survey to the eDNA survey, one-litre water samples were collected at the surface and at depth before the trawls were done. However, samples were only taken before every fourth trawl. When the data from the two surveys were analyzed, the eDNA survey found most of the same fish species, and also found species not captured in the trawl. And it did so with only one-quarter of the samples taken and a fraction of the effort involved.

The paper says most (70% to 87%) species detected by trawl in a given month were also detected by eDNA, and vice versa, including nearly all (92% to 100%) abundant species. Conversely, most dropouts were relatively rare taxa.

Trawl and eDNA peak seasonal abundance agreed for about 70% of fish species.

In other comparisons, monthly eDNA species “reads” correlated with the monthly weight, or biomass, of that species recovered in the trawl.

The eDNA reporting “largely concorded with monthly trawl estimates of marine fish species richness, composition, seasonality, and relative abundance,” the paper says.

“It’s important to understand that the results of both methods are true, and complementary,” noted Stoeckle. “They catch a lot of overlapping, concordant information as well as some information unique to each method.”

Gregory Hinks of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, who co-authored the paper with Bureau of Marine Fisheries colleague Stacy M. VanMorter, adds: “During times like COVID when it is unsafe to conduct surveys with large crews, the eDNA method might allow us still to maintain some continuity in our surveys. In any case, piggybacking eDNA onto an existing survey may eventually provide an affordable way to improve marine fish stock assessment.”

The new paper lays out further research required, such as better calibration of eDNA “reads” to fish body mass — how much DNA is shed by 1,000 anchovies weighing 1 kilo, for example, compared with a one kilo sized sea bass? — and how to account for eDNA reads that may be the result of injury due to a predator attack.

Since collecting water for eDNA is so quick and easy to do, research or oceanographic vessels and commercial and recreational vessels can collect samples as they travel from place to place. Even drones could be deployed to collect water samples.

And with the benefit of additional studies in marine and freshwaters, estimates of animal numbers using eDNA will continue to improve as well as the DNA reference data banks that allow reliable identification of aquatic species.

eDNA opens the way to surveys of unprecedented value, quality, and affordability, says Jesse Ausubel, Director of The Rockefeller University’s Program for the Human Environment, who developed and helped oversee the first international Census of Marine Life, a decadal (2000-2010) collaboration of about 2,700 scientists in 80 countries.

“eDNA makes the ocean a sea of biological information,” he says. “In the USA we could organize a Great American Fish Count in which millions of citizen scientists might collect water for eDNA testing spanning all our waters. Globally, the incipient UN Decade of the Oceans could include a Great Global Fish Count sampling from sea floor to sea surface and near shore to mid-ocean all during a single day or week.”

Tony MacDonald, Director of the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute, says “Our institute and scientists were excited to support this innovative work, one of several partnerships in recent years between UCI and The Rockefeller University Program for the Human Environment.”

“We hope to have the opportunity to continue and expand our collaboration with New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection Marine Fisheries and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on future fish trawls to further advance eDNA research.”

Comments Tim Gallaudet, Ph.D., Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.) Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy NOAA Administrator: “NOAA is rapidly advancing ‘omics technologies, including eDNA, to improve our ability to monitor and understand biological communities in our oceans and the Great Lakes.”

“Important applications include monitoring endangered and invasive species, assessing biodiversity for ecosystem health, tracking aquaculture pathogens, and augmenting fisheries surveys.”

“Through the NOAA ‘Omics Strategy (https://bit.ly/3dkHGg8) and our forthcoming Implementation Plan, we have defined goals and actionable steps to integrate modern ‘omics technologies to help meet our mission. Collaboration with Rockefeller University and other partners will allow us to expand and advance ‘omics research and eDNA in direct support of the American Blue Economy.”

(‘Omics refers to a suite of advanced methods used to analyze material such as DNA, RNA, proteins, or metabolites.)

* * * * *

Marine eDNA’s potential applications include

* Exploration: discovering species previously unknown in certain ranges

* Discovering rare species and others unknown to science (or absent from genome databases)

* Sampling remote, difficult-to-reach, and intriguing places

* Assessment of the size of fish stocks

* Identifying the range of marine animals

* Determining the effect of protected area designation on fish and other marine animal populations and other forms of ecological restoration

* Monitoring the effect on native species of fish farming operations, offshore oil and gas operations, or wind farms

* Determining the effects of artificial reefs, of severe storms and other disturbances to marine ecosystems including harmful algal blooms

* Monitoring vulnerable, threatened or endangered species, invasive species, or the presence of species dangerous to swimmers

* Gauging the impacts of climate variability

* Mapping marine animal diversity, distribution, migration and abundance, including invasive species, and species popular with sport fishers. (united nations correspondent journalists – united nations journalism articles}

* * * * *

About

Programme for Human Environment, The Rockefeller University: Click here

Monmouth University, Click here

NJ Bureau of Marine Fisheries, Department of Environmental Protection, Click here

* * * * *

Terry Collins & Assoc. | www.tca.tc | @TerryCollinsTC | LinkedIn.com/in/terrycollins, Toronto, Canada

United Nations correspondent journalists – United Nations correspondent journalists – United Nations correspondent journalists United Nations journalism articles – United Nations journalism articles – United Nations journalism articles

How Many Fish in the Sea? Read More »

World Economic Forum announces Davos Agenda for January 2021 virtual meeting

Leave a Comment / News /

Geneva/New York, November 23 – The World Economic Forum made public its upcoming Davos Agenda under the theme “2021 is a crucial year to rebuild trust” as the ongoing pandemic continued to sap gains made in reversing unemployment, climate change and poverty worldwide.

“2021 is a crucial year to rebuild trust,” said Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. “The world is at a crossroads. The pandemic has reversed important gains in the global fight against unemployment, climate change and poverty. Leaders must come together for decisive and inclusive action.”
 
WEF said the Davos Agenda is a “pioneering mobilization of global leaders to rebuild trust to shape the principles, policies and partnerships needed in 2021.”

The virtual annual meeting will convene January 25-29, 2021 with the active participation of heads of state, CEOs, civil society leaders, global media and youth leaders from Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, North America and Latin America.

Following are the five program themes announced by WEF:

Designing cohesive, sustainable, resilient economic systems (January 25)

Driving responsible industry transformation and growth (January 26)

Enhancing stewardship of our global commons (January 27)

Harnessing the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (January 28)

Advancing global and regional cooperation (January 29) 

“Heads of state and of government and international organizations will give special addresses on the state of the world, as well as engaging in dialogue with business leaders. Industry leaders and public figures will discuss how to advance and accelerate public-private collaboration on critical issues such as COVID-19 vaccination, job creation and climate change, among others. The Forum’s core communities, including its International Business Council, will share their insight and recommendations from global, regional and industry initiatives in impact sessions. (united nations correspondent journalists – united nations journalism articles}
 
The high-level agenda-setting dialogues that characterize the Forum’s January meeting will take place throughout the week and will be live streamed – providing more opportunities for the public to engage. Sessions will take place across Beijing, Geneva, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo time zones to ensure global participation.”
 
Notes to editors
Learn more about the Davos Agenda
Read the Forum Agenda also in French | Spanish | Mandarin | Japanese
Check out the Forum’s Strategic Intelligence Platform and Transformation Maps
Follow the Forum on Twitter via @wef @davos | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok | Weibo | Podcasts 

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Oil and gas firms commit to report and reduce methane emissions to help solve climate crisis

Leave a Comment / Climate /

Governments, UN, civil society, companies collaborate on robust new tracking and disclosure system


Nairobi/Brussels/New York, 23 November – In a move that will help tackle one of the biggest and most solvable contributors to the climate crisis, major players in the oil and gas industry agreed today to report methane emissions with a new, much higher level of transparency.  
Methane released directly into the atmosphere is a highly potent greenhouse gas, with more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Actions to cut methane emissions can yield a near-term reduction in the rate of warming, complementing efforts to decarbonize the world’s energy and transport systems while also delivering air quality benefits.
The Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) is a Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) initiative led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the European Commission (EC), and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).
Already 62 companies with assets on five continents representing 30 per cent of the world’s oil and gas production have joined the partnership. The new OGMP2.0 framework is the new gold standard reporting framework that will improve the reporting accuracy and transparency of anthropogenic methane emissions in the oil and gas sector.
Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0   At the core of the effort is a comprehensive measurement-based methane-reporting framework that will make it easier for officials, investors and the public to accurately track and compare performance across companies in ways that have not been possible to this point.  

As stipulated in the EU methane strategy, the European Commission is planning to elaborate a legislative proposal on compulsory measurement, reporting, and verification for all energy-related methane emissions, building on the OGMP 2.0 framework   Crucially, the OGMP 2.0 includes not only a company’s own operations, but also the many joint ventures responsible for a substantial share of their production.  
The OGMP 2.0 framework applies to the full oil and gas value chain, not only upstream production, but also midstream transportation and downstream processing and refining – areas with substantial emissions potential that are often left out of reporting today.  
The goal is to enable the oil and gas industry to realize deep reductions in methane emissions over the next decade in a way that is transparent to civil society and governments.   In order to support the realization of global climate targets, OGMP 2.0 aims to deliver a 45 per cent reduction in the industry’s methane emissions by 2025, and a 60-75 per cent reduction by 2030.  
Cost-effective solutions –  According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), roughly three-quarters of methane emissions could be reduced with the technology that exists today, and close to half at zero net cost. Reducing methane emissions from the energy sector by 90% would shave two tenths of a degree Celsius from the forecasted rise in the planet’s average temperature by 2050.  
Reducing fossil methane emissions by 75 per cent can prevent up to 6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions annually – almost ten per cent of the planet’s 2019 greenhouse gas emissions, including land-use change.  
New observatory in the works –  UNEP and the European Commission are also finalizing plans to set up an independent International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO). IMEO will aggregate and analyse multiple methane emissions data streams, including data reported by OGMP member companies, to accelerate reductions in methane emissions globally.
By assisting industry and governments globally in addressing uncertainty related to reported emissions, the Observatory will improve the consistency and credibility of methane emissions data and accelerate mitigation actions.  
Comments: “To win the race to net zero emissions, we need everyone on board. We need ambitious action from the oil and gas industry. UNEP is committed to supporting efforts that reduce methane emissions, and we recognize the leadership of companies that have joined such an ambitious methane reporting framework. We look forward to seeing actions that turn commitments into actual emissions reduction.” Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme  

“I am very happy to see the energy industry taking immediate action on methane emissions. A clear commitment to measure and monitor emissions is an important first step for significantly reducing them and I am proud of what we have achieved together. Today’s signature is the first deliverable under the Commission’s recent methane strategy.There are many more steps to take to cut emissions along the entire value chain and I hope to work closely with all – European and international – partners to reach this goal.” Kadri Simson, EU Energy Commissioner  

“Thanks to the 62 companies for committing to measure, report and reduce pollution from their core operations and joint ventures. This will be the basis for robust standards in Europe, and beyond, that ensure the oil industry takes the practical actions urgently needed for our climate.” Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense Fund.  

“Reducing methane emissions is a crucial effort in the industry’s decarbonization pathway. As a factor on which we can have an immediate and concrete positive impact, OGMP 2.0 offers an internationally recognized blueprint to companies across our industry willing to make improvements in their emission reductions in all phases of the value chain. We look forward to continue working with all partners involved, as only through collaboration with international organizations, civil society and governments we can deliver on our common goals.” Claudio Descalzi, Chief Executive Officer, ENI.  

NOTE TO EDITORS
About the OGMP The OGMP, launched at the UN Climate Summit in 2014, was created by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) as a voluntary initiative to help companies reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas sector.
Managed by UNEP, OGMP is the only multi-stakeholder partnership working on methane emissions reporting and provides a protocol to help companies systematically manage their methane emissions from oil and gas operations and offers a credible platform to help member companies demonstrate actual reductions to industry stakeholders.  
About the UN Environment Programme UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. For more information: www.unep.org  
About the European Commission The European Commission is the EU’s politically independent executive arm, responsible for drawing up proposals for European legislation, and its further implementation. Additionally, to managing EU policies and allocating EU funding, the Commission defends the European Union’s interests by representing it internationally. The European Green Deal is the cornerstone of the European Commission’s ambition for Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent. Therefore, climate and energy objectives play an important role in shaping the Commission policy-making. For more information: https://europa.eu/  

About the Environmental Defense Fund One of the world’s leading international nonprofit organizations, Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org) creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. To do so, EDF links science, economics, law, and innovative private-sector partnerships.
With more than 2.5 million members and offices in the United States, China, Mexico, Indonesia and the European Union, EDF’s scientists, economists, attorneys and policy experts are working in 28 countries to turn our solutions into action. Connect with us on Twitter @EnvDefenseFund  

About the Climate and Clean Air Coalition CCAC is the only global partnership of governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, scientific institutions and civil society committed to improving air quality and protecting the climate by reducing short-lived climate pollutants – methane, black carbon, hydrofluorocarbons and tropospheric ozone. It runs 11 initiatives across key emitting sectors and acts as a catalyst to create, share and implement solutions that rapidly reduce the rate of warming, improve people’s lives, and ensures sustainable development for future generations.
 For more information: https://ccacoalition.org/en
  * * * * *
Member companies, OGMP 2.0 Adnoc; Bahia de Bizkaia Gas S.L.; BALANCE Erneuerbare Energien GmbH; BP; Ecopetrol; EnagasEnergienetze; Bayern GmbH & Co.KG; Eni; Equino; EUROPE MAGHREB PIPELINE LIMITED; Eustream;  EWE GASSPEICHER GmbH; EWE Netz GmbH; Fluvius; GASCADE Gastransport GmbH; Gasunie Deutschland Transport Services GmbH; GEI SPA;  GRDF; GRTGaz; GRTGAaz Deutschland GmbH;  Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator (DESFA) S.A.; Italgas; LD Reti; Medgaz; Moldovagaz; NEDGIA; NEL GasTransport GmbH; Neptune Energy; Netbeheer;  NederlandNV; Nederlandse Gasunie; OGE; Ontras; Opal Gas Transport; PLANTA DE REGASIFICACIÓN DE SAGUNTO, S.A. (Saggas); REN; Repsol; Retragas; Schwaben Netz GmbH; Shell; SNAM S.p.A.;Storengy Deutschland; STORENGY FRANCE; Storengy UK; TeReGa; Thüga AG; Thyssengas; Total; Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH; Unareti; Uniper Energy Storage GmbH; VNG Gasspeicher GmbH; Wintershall
* Terry Collins, +1-416-878-8712, tc@tca.tc  

Oil and gas firms commit to report and reduce methane emissions to help solve climate crisis Read More »

Chefs, farmers, government and business leaders to call for new food systems in post Covid-19 and to feed 10 billion people by 2050

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Geneva/New York, November 18 – The existing food systems, battered by coronavirus that caused widespread famine in poor countries, need fundamental change in order to feed the planet’s growing population expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, the World Economic Forum said. The current world population is 7.8 billion.

WEF said food industry, government and business leaders will hold a virtual conference in Geneva at which civil society and the public will also participate to discuss issues and share solutions at the Bold Actions for Food as a Force for Good event November 23-24.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is planning to convene a Food System Summit during the UN General Assembly session in September 2021 in an effort to steer the world to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, which include food security and ending poverty. The WEF conference is independently organized in support of UN food summit in 2021.

“The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated vulnerabilities in food systems – highlighting the insecurity of rural livelihoods, the tragedy of food waste, and stark inequities in access to healthy food,” WEF said.  “As the global population races to 10 billion, more needs to be done to feed the planet while tackling the environmental impact of agriculture and addressing lack of biodiversity.”

WEF said the conference will look for a vision of the food systems of the future in order to tackle the urgent food crisis from the perspectives of government levels to farmers, young entrepreneurs and influencers. The conference will build a stronger food system that will be more  sustainable and equitable. WEF said the Wageningen University and One Young World will host sessions featuring new innovations from young students and entrepreneurs.

Learn more and view sessions


Key sessions will be livestreamed on the Forum’s website. To participate in the meeting, ask questions and share ideas, please register for the Forum’s TopLink platform. Members of the media can request accreditation here. )

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Chefs, farmers, government and business leaders to call for new food systems in post Covid-19 and to feed 10 billion people by 2050 Read More »

Health authorities fear increase in measles cases as pandemic disrupted vaccine campaigns against measles, which killed 207,500 people in 2019

Leave a Comment / Health, News /

New York/Geneva/Atlanta, November 12 – Measles claimed 207,500 lives in 2019, prompting the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to warn that more people would die of the disease as attention shifted to Covid-19 causing a pause in measles vaccination campaigns.

The health authorities said over 94 million people, as of November 2020, were at risk of missing vaccines because measles campaigns have been interrupted in 26 countries, with many of them experiencing cases of measles outbreaks. They said the campaigns, after an initial delay, have resumed in these countries: Brazil, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines and Somalia.

WHO and the Atlanta-based CDC said measles cases worldwide increased to 869,770 in 2019, the highest number reported since 1996. They said global measles deaths climbed nearly 50 percent since 2016, claiming an estimated 207,500 lives in 2019 alone.

“We know how to prevent measles outbreaks and deaths,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “These data send a clear message that we are failing to protect children from measles in every region of the world.  We must collectively work to support countries and engage communities to reach everyone, everywhere with measles vaccine and stop this deadly virus.”

“Before there was a coronavirus crisis, the world was grappling with a measles crisis, and it has not gone away,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. “While health systems are strained by the Covid-19 pandemic, we must not allow our fight against one deadly disease to come at the expense of our fight against another. This means ensuring we have the resources to continue immunization campaigns for all vaccine-preventable diseases, even as we address the growing Covid-19 pandemic.”

Health authorities fear increase in measles cases as pandemic disrupted vaccine campaigns against measles, which killed 207,500 people in 2019 Read More »

UPDATE: Pfizer and Moderna lead drug makers with over 90-per-cent effective vaccines; rich nations rush to buy massive amount of doses and prepare distribution

Leave a Comment / Health, News /

New York, November 16 – The US drug maker Moderna has joined the team Pfizer-BioNTech to claim that their Covid-19 vaccines have successfully passed trials and are over 90-per-cent effective, leading a pack of some other 50 vaccine candidates in the global race to stop the pandemic that has killed over 1.2 million people and infected 53 million others.

Moderna said its vaccine met the required three-trial phases and is 94.5 per cent effective a week after Pfizer announced its own vaccine. Large pharmaceutical companies in Australia, China, the United Kingdom, India and Russia are also working on their vaccines.

Since Pfizer announced its promising drug on November 11, news reports said the United States has purchased 100 million doses with an option to buy 500 million more dozes, the United Kingdom has bought 40 million doses and the European Union has bought 200 million with an option for another 100 million.

Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla has called the vaccine “the greatest medical advance” in the last 100 years while his counterpart at BioNTech, Ugur Sahin, said his company plans to increase the production of up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021 if it has obtained authorization to move forward in order to meet the urgent demands by millions of people around the world.

“We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen,” Bourla told the US TV network CNBC November 9. “We have already signed contracts with multiple governments in the world and they have placed orders.”

Sahin revealed that BioNTech used a new but not yet approved technology called messenger RNA, or mRNA, to spark an immune response in people who are vaccinated.

BioNTech and Pfizer are asking the US Food and Drug Administration to authorize emergency use of the vaccine.

While news of the promising Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was announced and a second wave of coronavirus was hitting several European countries and the US, the WHO in Geneva resumed its virtual 73rd World Health Assembly to recognize the dedication and sacrifice of the millions of health and care workers at the forefront of the Covid-19 pandemic. It unanimously designated 2021 as the International Year of Health and Care Workers (YHCW).

 The WHO also called for “Open Science,” describing it as a movement aimed at making the scientific process at the time of severe health crises more transparent and inclusive. It called for authoritative scientific information and research to be made freely available, to accelerate research into an effective vaccine against Covid-19, help counter misinformation, and “unlock the full potential of science”.

Tedros Ghebreyesus Adhanom, the WHO chief, in October joined human rights chief Michelle Bachelet and Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UN Scientific, Cultural and Educational agency (UNESCO) to launch Open Science as a fundamental matter of human rights and called for cutting-edge technologies and discoveries to be available for those who need them most.

News reports said the US government has planned to supply $1.95 billion for production and delivery costs for the first 100 million doses upon authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

US President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to invest $25 billion to manufacture and distribute vaccines.

“It’s important to understand that the end of the battle against Covid-19 is still months away,” Biden said and reminded Americans to wear masks, keep social distancing and maintain measures to protect themselves. “Even if some Americans are vaccinated later this year, it will be many more months before there is widespread vaccination in this country.”

UPDATE: Pfizer and Moderna lead drug makers with over 90-per-cent effective vaccines; rich nations rush to buy massive amount of doses and prepare distribution Read More »

Covid-19 has infected 50 million people, killed over 1.2 million but its long-term effects are unknown, WHO says

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Geneva/New York, November 9 – The World Health Organization said only “science, solutions and solidarity” can help the world fight Covid-19, which has already infected some 50 million people and killed over 1.2 million but its long-term effects are still not known.

“No one knows the long-term effects of this virus on the human body, or on the type of world our children and grandchildren will inherit,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the resumed 73rd World Health Assembly in Geneva as a second wave of cases was hitting many countries and lockdowns were reinstated, particularly in some countries in Europe and the Americas.

“We might be tired of Covid-19 but it is not tired of us,” he said. “We cannot negotiate with it, nor close our eyes and hope it goes away. It pays no heed to political rhetoric or conspiracy theories. Our only hope is science, solutions and solidarity. That is what WHO has been doing since the beginning. “

The WHO leader said the organization has relied on sciences by bringing together thousands of experts to analyze ever-growing evidence, research and work out roadmaps to fill gaps in the knowledge of Covid-19. WHO also has sent over 285 million essential medical products to 168 countries and territories as they were fighting the pandemic and set up an online learning platform in 41 languages to help train health care providers and all other users.

On November 6, the WHO and UNICEF appealed for $655 million and urgent action to try to avert new polio and measles epidemics as the Covid-19 pandemic caused lockdowns and prevented access to immunization services in some of the poorest countries in the world.

 The WHO and UNICEF said vaccination campaigns for polio and measles, two major diseases affecting children, have had to pause in order to protect health workers and communities from Covid-19 infections and while Covid-19 protection measures were being put into place. Such a situation has resulted in a drop of as much as 50 per cent in polio and measles vaccination campaigns.

“The Covid-19 pandemic hurt momentum as polio and immunization efforts were suspended,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “This put children, especially in high-risk areas, more vulnerable to killer diseases like polio, measles and pneumonia.” 

“And now we’re starting to see outbreaks of these diseases. We need to turn the tide quickly and ensure no child is left behind. Today, WHO and UNICEF are jointly launching an emergency appeal to rapidly boost measles and polio vaccination.”

The WHO leader said the drive to prevent new polio and measles epidemics is backed by a unique partnership between WHO, UNICEF, Rotary, CDC, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, which is a global immunization program.

The new funding of $655 million – $400 for polio and $255 for measles – is needed to address the severe immunity gaps in middle-income countries that are not eligible under the Gavi assistance program.

Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF, said that while the world is focused on fighting the pandemic it should not neglect the fight against other diseases.

“Addressing the global Covid-19 pandemic is critical. However, other deadly diseases also threaten the lives of millions of children in some of the poorest areas of the world. That is why today we are urgently calling for global action from country leaders, donors and partners,” she said. 

“We need additional financial resources to safely resume vaccination campaigns and prioritize immunization systems that are critical to protect children and avert other epidemics besides Covid-19.”  Respond to eme

Covid-19 has infected 50 million people, killed over 1.2 million but its long-term effects are unknown, WHO says Read More »

UNESCO: End impunity for crimes against journalists; 1,200 journalists killed since 2006 while reporting news; others tortured and imprisoned

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Paris/New York, November 2 – Close to 1,200 journalists were killed between 2006 and 2019 while they carried out the task of reporting news to inform the public but only one out of 10 cases has been punished, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

“These figures do not include the many more journalists, who on a daily basis suffer from non-fatal attacks, including torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, intimidation and harassment in both conflict and non-conflict situations,” UNESCO said. “Furthermore, there are specific risks faced by women journalists, including sexual attacks.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on the occasion of the international day that “If we do not protect journalists, our ability to remain informed and make evidence-based decisions is severely hampered.”

“And when they cannot safely do their jobs, we lose an important defense against the pandemic of misinformation and disinformation that has spread online.”

Guterres said the pandemic brought new perils for journalists and media workers and he emphasized his call for a “free press that can play its essential role in peace, justice, sustainable development and human rights”.

“Fact-based news and analysis depend on the protection and safety of journalists conducting independent reporting, rooted in the fundamental tenet: ‘journalism without fear or favor.”

The Paris-based UN organization said impunity emboldens perpetrators of crimes against journalists while societies worldwide lose confidence in their own justice systems that are supposed to protect individuals from attacks on their rights.

UNESCO and the Netherlands have convened the World Press Freedom Conference 2020 in Paris December 9-10, https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldpressfreedomday/2020/speakers

The conference, entitled “Strengthening investigations and prosecutions to end impunity for crimes against journalists,” will discuss ways to end impunity and present guidelines for prosecutors on investigating and prosecuting crimes and attacks against journalists, which are developed in partnership with the International Association of Prosecutors. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which promotes press freedom worldwide and defends the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal, said 1,387 journalists have been killed (1992-2020) and 248 imprisoned in 2019

CPJ listed the world’s most censored countries as follow: Eritrea, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Vietnam, Iran, Equatorial Guinea, Belarus and Cuba.

UNESCO: End impunity for crimes against journalists; 1,200 journalists killed since 2006 while reporting news; others tortured and imprisoned Read More »

Escaping the ‘Era of Pandemics’: Experts Warn Worse Crises to Come, Options Offered to Reduce Risk

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Highlights: Intergovernmental Council on Pandemic Prevention; 
Addressing risk drivers including deforestation & wildlife trade; 
Tax high pandemic-risk activities 
540,000 – 850,000 unknown viruses in nature could still infect people; 
More frequent, deadly and costly pandemics forecast; 
Current economic impacts are 100 times the estimated cost of prevention 

Future pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, do more damage to the world economy and kill more people than COVID-19 unless there is a transformative change in the global approach to dealing with infectious diseases, warns a major new report on biodiversity and pandemics by 22 leading experts from around the world. 

Convened by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) for an urgent virtual workshop about the links between degradation of nature and increasing pandemic risks, the experts agree that escaping the era of pandemics is possible, but that this will require a seismic shift in approach from reaction to prevention. 

COVID-19 is at least the sixth global health pandemic since the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918, and although it has its origins in microbes carried by animals, like all pandemics its emergence has been entirely driven by human activities, says the report released on Thursday. It is estimated that another 1.7 million currently ‘undiscovered’ viruses exist in mammals and birds – of which up to 850,000 could have the ability to infect people. 

“There is no great mystery about the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic – or of any modern pandemic”, said Dr. Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth Alliance and Chair of the IPBES workshop. “The same human activities that drive climate change and biodiversity loss also drive pandemic risk through their impacts on our environment. Changes in the way we use land; the expansion and intensification of agriculture; and unsustainable trade, production and consumption disrupt nature and increase contact between wildlife, livestock, pathogens and people. This is the path to pandemics.” 

Pandemic risk can be significantly lowered by reducing the human activities that drive the loss of biodiversity, by greater conservation of protected areas, and through measures that reduce unsustainable exploitation of high biodiversity regions. This will reduce wildlife-livestock-human contact and help prevent the spillover of new diseases, says the report. 

“The overwhelming scientific evidence points to a very positive conclusion,” said Dr. Daszak. “We have the increasing ability to prevent pandemics – but the way we are tackling them right now largely ignores that ability. Our approach has effectively stagnated – we still rely on attempts to contain and control diseases after they emerge, through vaccines and therapeutics. We can escape the era of pandemics, but this requires a much greater focus on prevention in addition to reaction.” 

“The fact that human activity has been able to so fundamentally change our natural environment need not always be a negative outcome. It also provides convincing proof of our power to drive the change needed to reduce the risk of future pandemics – while simultaneously benefiting conservation and reducing climate change.” 

The report says that relying on responses to diseases after their emergence, such as public health measures and technological solutions, in particular the rapid design and distribution of new vaccines and therapeutics, is a “slow and uncertain path”, underscoring both the widespread human suffering and the tens of billions of dollars in annual economic damage to the global economy of reacting to pandemics. 

Pointing to the likely cost of COVID-19 of $8-16 trillion globally by July 2020, it is further estimated that costs in the United States alone may reach as high as $16 trillion by the 4th quarter of 2021. The experts estimate the cost of reducing risks to prevent pandemics to be 100 times less than the cost of responding to such pandemics, “providing strong economic incentives for transformative change.” 

The report also offers a number of policy options that would help to reduce and address pandemic risk. Among these are: 

• Launching a high-level intergovernmental council on pandemic prevention to provide decision-makers with the best science and evidence on emerging diseases; predict high-risk areas; evaluate the economic impact of potential pandemics and to highlight research gaps. Such a council could also coordinate the design of a global monitoring framework. 
• Countries setting mutually-agreed goals or targets within the framework of an international accord or agreement – with clear benefits for people, animals and the environment. 
• Institutionalizing the ‘One Health’ approach in national governments to build pandemic preparedness, enhance pandemic prevention programs, and to investigate and control outbreaks across sectors. 
• Developing and incorporating pandemic and emerging disease risk health impact assessments in major development and land-use projects, while reforming financial aid for land-use so that benefits and risks to biodiversity and health are recognized and explicitly targeted. • Ensuring that the economic cost of pandemics is factored into consumption, production, and government policies and budgets. 
• Enabling changes to reduce the types of consumption, globalized agricultural expansion and trade that have led to pandemics – this could include taxes or levies on meat consumption, livestock production and other forms of high pandemic-risk activities. 
• Reducing zoonotic disease risks in the international wildlife trade through a new intergovernmental ‘health and trade’ partnership; reducing or removing high disease-risk species in the wildlife trade; enhancing law enforcement in all aspects of the illegal wildlife trade and improving community education in disease hotspots about the health risks of wildlife trade. 
• Valuing Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ engagement and knowledge in pandemic prevention programs, achieving greater food security, and reducing consumption of wildlife. 
• Closing critical knowledge gaps such as those about key risk behaviors, the relative importance of illegal, unregulated, and the legal and regulated wildlife trade in disease risk, and improving understanding of the relationship between ecosystem degradation and restoration, landscape structure and the risk of disease emergence. 

Speaking about the workshop report, Dr. Anne Larigauderie, Executive Secretary of IPBES said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of science and expertise to inform policy and decision-making. Although it is not one of the typical IPBES intergovernmental assessments reports, this is an extraordinary peer-reviewed expert publication, representing the perspectives of some of the world’s leading scientists, with the most up-to-date evidence and produced under significant time constraints. We congratulate Dr. Daszak and the other authors of this workshop report and thank them for this vital contribution to our understanding of the emergence of pandemics and options for controlling and preventing future outbreaks. This will inform a number of IPBES assessments already underway, in addition to offering decision-makers new insights into pandemic risk reduction and options for prevention.” 
– ENDS – 
For enquiries and interviews please contact: 
The IPBES Media Team 
media@ipbes.net 
+1-416-878-8712 or +49-174-2538-2223 
www.ipbes.net 
Note to Editors: 
The Executive Summary of the report is available under the same embargo here: http://bit.ly/PandemicEmbargoed The full report will be published on Thursday, 29 October 2020. The report, its recommendations and conclusions have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by the member States of IPBES – it represents the expertise and perspectives of the experts who participated in the workshop, listed here in full: https://ipbes.net/biodiversity-pandemics-participants 
The IPBES workshop report is one of the most scientifically robust examinations of the evidence and knowledge about links between pandemic risk and nature since the COVID pandemic began – with contributions from leading experts in fields as diverse as epidemiology, zoology, public health, disease ecology, comparative pathology, veterinary medicine, pharmacology, wildlife health, mathematical modelling, economics, law and public policy. 
The report is also strongly scientifically substantiated, with more than 600 cited sources – more than 200 of which are from 2020 and 2019 – which offers decision-makers a valuable analytical snap-shot of the most up-to-date data currently available. 
17 of the 22 experts were nominated by Governments and organizations following a call for nominations; 5 experts were added from the ongoing IPBES assessment of the sustainable use of wild species, the assessment on values and the assessment of invasive alien species, as well as experts assisting with the scoping of the IPBES nexus assessment and transformative change assessments. 
Resource persons who contributed information but were not authors of the report included experts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the World Health Organization (WHO). 
Often described as the “IPCC for biodiversity”, IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body comprising more than 130 member Governments. Established by Governments in 2012, it provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as the tools and methods to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets.
For more information about IPBES and its assessments visit www.ipbes.net

  Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)
Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1, 53 113 Bonn, Germany secretariat@ipbes.net • www.ipbes.net

Escaping the ‘Era of Pandemics’: Experts Warn Worse Crises to Come, Options Offered to Reduce Risk Read More »

Treaty banning nuclear weapons to enter into force without the support of nuclear powers

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New York. October 26 – An international treaty banning nuclear weapons the world has been awaiting in the past 75 years will finally enter into force on January 22, 2021 but without the support of nuclear powers like the United States, China and Russia.

Japan, the world’s only country that suffered atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 also declined to join the treaty.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2017 by 122 countries, required that 50 of those countries signed and ratified it to fulfil conditions for the entry into force and Honduras was the last one to do so.

For years the UN conducted negotiations to build the first global treaty prohibiting the use, threat of use, development, production, testing and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. The treaty also commits countries to clear contaminated areas and help victims.

Countries that have not signed and ratified the treaty included Japan and Australia, and all of the nuclear powers such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, France, India, Pakistan and North Korea. The nuclear powers reportedly have a combined 14,000 nuclear bombs and many of those weapons have warheads that are more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

(Exact replica of atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki displayed at a Nagasaki museum)

The Kyodo News reported from Tokyo on October 26, 2020 that the Japanese government will not join the treaty as it is protected by the US nuclear umbrella under a bilateral agreement.

“We believe, given the increasingly difficult security environment surrounding Japan, it is appropriate to make steady and realistic progress toward nuclear disarmament while maintaining and strengthening our deterrence capabilities to deal with threats,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said at a press conference.

“Japan shares the goal of this treaty, the abolition of nuclear weapons…but as we differ in how to approach the issue, we will not become a signatory,” he said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the development and countries that ratified the treaty, saying that the enter-into-force of the treaty is a tribute to survivors of nuclear explosions and tests, particularly those who campaigned for the treaty to become effective.

“The entry-into-force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is the culmination of a worldwide movement to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons,” he said. “It represents a meaningful commitment towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons, which remains the highest disarmament priority of the United Nations.”  

Francesco Rocca, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said: “Today is an historic day: even a few years ago, the dream of a nuclear ban recognized by the international community seemed unfathomable. This is a victory for every citizen of the world, and it demonstrates the importance of multilateralism. I would like to congratulate all 50 States that have ratified the treaty and to call on all the other world leaders to act with courage and join the right side of history.

“The simple reality is that the international community could never hope to deal with the consequences of a nuclear confrontation. No nation is prepared to deal with a nuclear confrontation. What we cannot prepare for, we must prevent.”

Treaty banning nuclear weapons to enter into force without the support of nuclear powers Read More »

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