Category: Disaster Aid

UN: World population to hit 8.5B in 2030; India may surpass China

mcmangahas Leave a comment

THE WORLD’S POPULATION is projected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion by 2050, and exceed 11 billion in 2100, according to a new United Nations report.

The report, 2015 Revision of World Population Prospects, the 24th round of official UN population estimates and projections, says India is expected to surpass China as the most populous country in seven years.

Nigeria is also seen to overtake the United States to become the world’s third largest country around 35 years from now.

A UN press advisory noted that the 2015-2050 period, half of the world’s population growth is expected to be concentrated in nine countries: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the United States, Indonesia, and Uganda.

Wu Hongbo, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, whose department produced the report said that understanding the demographic changes that are likely to unfold over the coming years “is key to the design and implementation of the new development agenda.”

The UN member-states, the advisory said, are currently in the process of crafting a successor agenda to the landmark Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which wrap up at the end of this year.

A new framework, focused on poverty eradication, social inclusion, and preserving the health of the planet, is set to be adopted at a special UN summit, in New York this September.

According to the report’s projections, “most of the projected increase in the world’s population can be attributed to a short list of high-fertility countries, mainly in Africa, or countries with already large populations.”

“At present, China and India remain the two largest countries in the world, each with more than 1 billion people, representing 19 and 18 per cent of the world’s population, respectively, but by 2022, the population of India is expected to surpass that of China, according to the report’s projection,” it added.

“Among the 10 largest countries in the world currently, one is in Africa (Nigeria), five are in Asia (Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan), two are in Latin America (Brazil and Mexico), one is in Northern America (US), and one is in
Europe (Russian Federation),” the UN said.

“Of these,Nigeria’s population, currently the seventh largest in the world, is growing the most rapidly,” said the report.

The report also projected that “by 2050, the populations of six countries are expected to exceed 300 million: China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the United States.”

“And with the highest rate of population growth, Africa is expected to account for more than half of the world’s population growth over the next 35 years,” it added.

During this period, the report said, “the populations of 28 African countries are projected to more than double, and by 2100, 10 African countries are projected to have increased by at least a factor of five: Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia.”

“The concentration of population growth in the poorest countries presents its own set of challenges, making it more difficult to eradicate poverty and inequality, to combat hunger and malnutrition, and to expand educational enrolment and health systems, all of which are crucial to the success of the new sustainable development agenda,” said John Wilmoth, Director of the UN’s Population Division.

In contrast to the growth projections, the report noted “a significant ageing of the population in the next several decades” for most regions. These include Europe, where 34 per cent of the population is projected to be over 60 years old by 2050. In Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia, “the population will be transformed from having 11 per cent to 12 per cent of people over 60 years old today to more than 25 per cent by 2050.”

Too, the UN report said, “life expectancy at birth has increased significantly in the least developed countries in recent years.”

The six-year average gain in life expectancy among the poorest countries, from 56 years in 2000-2005 to 62 years in 2010-2015, is roughly double the increase recorded for the rest of the world, the report added.

“While significant differences in life expectancy across major areas and income groups are projected to continue, they are expected to diminish significantly by 2045-2050,” the UN said.

e-Waste: You make it, you fix it

mcmangahas Leave a comment

MAKE WASTE, mind your waste.

This is in gist is the concept behind the “Expanded Producer Responsibility” clause that forms part of the draft guielines on the management of electric and elctronic equipment waste that Philippine officials and zero-waste group organizations plan to submit to Congress for enactment into law.

In a press advisory, the groups led by the EcoWaste Coalition signified support for strong regulation that will promote the environmentally-sound management (ESM) of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) that is reputedly “the fastest growing waste stream globally.”

In a meeting held June 3 at the request of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Clean Production Committee, officials of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) and Innogy Solutions, Inc. discussed the draft technical guidelines on the management of WEEE. About 40 stakeholders from environmental organizations, waste pickers’ groups and junkshop cooperatives attended the meeting.

The discussion focused on “a practical system that will make EEE producers responsible for their products up to the post-consumer stage” but also recognized “the need to explicitly value, integrate, and specify the role of the informal waste sector in such a system,” the press advisory said.

“You make it, you take it. It’s a simple concept whose time has come under this new regulation,” said Abigail Aguilar, Toxics Campaigner for Greenpeace Philippines.

“Greenpeace believes that Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is urgently needed in the Philippines to tackle the growing e-waste crisis. Such a policy addresses both waste and pollution problems and makes consumption both more economically and environmentally sustainable,” she said.

Thony Dizon, Coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect, said the groups expect the final guidelines “to institutionalize the ecological collection, storage, processing and recycling of e-waste, including used EEEs and scraps, as well as to tighten the rules that will make it difficult for waste smugglers to dump WEEE from overseas in our soil.”

Citing a new study released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on May 18, 2015, the EcoWaste Coalition said that the electronic industry produces up to 41 million tons of e-waste each year, up to 90 percent of which is illegally traded or dumped in developing countries.

This poses, the coalition said. “threats to human health and the environment due to hazardous substances, including heavy metals (cadmium, hexavalent chromium, lead, mercury, selenium etc.), persistent organic pollutants (polybrominated diphenyl ether, polychlorinated biphenyls) and other chemicals of concern such as phthalates beyond threshold quantities.”

“With the UN itself warning about ‘an unprecedented tsunami of e-waste,’ we find it urgent for our country to plug all legal loopholes to thwart the illegal traffic of such hazardous waste. We hope the WEEE guidelines will be able to contribute to that goal,” Dizon said.

The groups present at the meeting included the Sarilaya Cavite, Samahang Muling Pagkabuhay Multi-Purpose Cooperative, November 17 Movement, MdM/Doctors of the World, Lingkod Mamamayan at Lipunan Foundation, Linis Ganda Metro Manila Federation of Environment Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Greenpeace, EcoWaste Coalition, Cavite Green Coalition. and Ban Toxics.

In 2014 alone, the UNEP study estimated the total amount e-waste that the world churned out to be a monstrous 41.9 million metric tons.

The “intrinsic material value” of the e-waste generated last year is at least 48 billion euro. It further postulated that by 2018, the total volume of e-waste will rise to 50 metric tons.

In 2014, the world’s total waste volume consisted of:

* 1.0 metric tons of lamps,
* 6.3 Mt of screens
* 3.0 Mt of small IT (such as mobile phones, pocket calculators, personal computers, printers, etc.)
* 12.8 Mt of small equipment (such as vacuum cleaners, microwaves, toasters, electric shavers, video cameras, etc.)
* 11.8 Mt of large equipment (such as washing machines, clothes dryers, dishwashers, electric stoves, photovoltaic panels, etc.) and * 7.0 Mt of cooling and freezing equipment (temperature exchange equipment).

The study warned that “the annual supply of toxins from e-waste is 2.2 Mt of lead glass, 0.3 Mt of batteries and 4 kilo tonnes (kt) of ozone-depleting substances (CFCs.”

In addition, “a cocktail of other toxic substances such as mercury, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, selenium, among others, which can stream into the environment when not properly managed. Health problems associated with such toxins include impaired mental development, cancer, damage to liver and kidneys, miscarriages, and even death,” the study added.

Inflation, workers’ pay, corruption? PNoy scores low approval ratings

Julius Mariveles Leave a comment

THE ADMINISTRATION of President Benigno S.Aquino III failed to score a majority approval rating on any of the 12 “urgent national concerns and issues” on which it is performance was rated in March 2015 by the creditable pollster Pulse Asia Research Inc.

However, it scored a big plurality to near majority approval ratings on seven national issues: promoting peace in the country (40 percent), enforcing the rule of law (41percent), fighting governmental corruption (42 percent), defending national territorial integrity (43 percent), fighting criminality (45 percent), protecting the environment (48 percent), and addressing the needs of calamity victims (49 percent).

But disapproval was the plurality opinion that the Aquino administration got on the top three urgent national concerns of Filipinos, notably “controlling inflation,” “improving/increasing the pay of workers” and “controlling graft and corruption in the government.”

CONTROLLING inflation was the most urgent national concern based on the results of the Ulan ng Bayan survey of the Social Weather Stations on the urgent national concerns and performance ratings of the national administration. Photo shows a shopping list of a mother-sugarworker in Negros Occidental during the tigkiriwi or the off-milling season | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

CONTROLLING inflation was the most urgent national concern based on the results of the Ulat ng Bayan survey of the Social Weather Stations on the urgent national concerns and performance ratings of the national administration. Photo shows a shopping list of a mother-sugarworker in Negros Occidental during the tigkiriwi or the off-milling season | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

Pulse Asia said the administration’s disapproval rating also remained the dominant sentiment as far as its efforts to reduce poverty at 40 percent.

Field work for Pulse Asia’s latest Ulat ng Bayan survey on “Urgent National Concerns and the Performance Ratings of the National Administration on Selected Issues” was conducted from March 1 – 7, 2015 using face-to-face interviews.

The major events that transpired during the last four months included the January 25, 2015 encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

IMPROVING / increasing the pay of workers was the second most urgent concern, the Ulat ng Bayan survey results show | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

IMPROVING / increasing the pay of workers was the second most urgent concern, the Ulat ng Bayan survey results show | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

The survey, Pulse Asia said, “showed that the administration scored almost the same approval and indecision figures for its initiatives to create more jobs (37 percent versus 33 percent) and control population growth (37 percent versus 33 percent.)”

Public opinion, meanwhile, is split three-ways with respect to its performance in the area of increasing the pay of workers – 33 percent approval, 35 percent indecision, and 33 percent disapproval. However, appreciation is the plurality view concerning its anti-corruption work (42 percent).

These scores, Pulse Asia said, showed that “public assessment of the national administration’s performance remains largely unchanged” between November 2014, when it last conducted its Ulat ng Bayan survey, and March 2015, the date of its latest survey.

According to Pulse Asia, “for the most part, the performance ratings of the Aquino administration in March 2015 do not differ significantly from those recorded four months ago. ”

The only exceptions to this observation are, it said are the following: “decline in approval for the administration’s initiatives to defend national territorial integrity (-7 percentage points); (2) decrease in the level of ambivalence regarding its work in the area of enforcing the law equally on all citizens (-8 percentage points); and (3) increase in disapproval for its efforts to enforce the rule of law (+8 percentage points) and promote peace (+8 percentage points).”

FILIPINOS expect the Aquino administration to fight graft and corruption in government. This is the top three most urgent national concern. Photo shows a child with her mother who was working in a canefield in Negros Occidental | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

FILIPINOS expect the Aquino administration to fight graft and corruption in government. This is the top three most urgent national concern. Photo shows a child with her mother who was working in a canefield in Negros Occidental | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

The March 2015 Ulat ng Bayan Survey revealed that “Filipinos continue to be most concerned about economic-related issues; their sense of urgency regarding selected national issues remains unchanged between November 2014 and March 2015 as well as year-on-year.”

“In March 2015, the leading urgent national concerns among Filipinos are controlling inflation (46 percent), increasing the pay of workers (44 percent), and fighting corruption in government (40 percent), the report said.

“A second set of urgent national concerns include poverty reduction (37 percent) and job creation (34 percent) while a third cluster is comprised of criminality (22 percent), peace (22 percent), and rule of law (19 percent). Filipinos are least concerned about environmental degradation (13 percent), population control (9 percent), national territorial integrity (5 percent), terrorism (5 percent), and charter change (4 percent),” it added.

REDUCING poverty of many Filipinos was the fourth most urgent concern, the Ulat ng Bayan shows | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

REDUCING poverty of many Filipinos was the fourth most urgent concern, the Ulat ng Bayan shows | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

These overall figures are “essentially the same as those recorded by Pulse Asia Research a year ago as well as in November 2014.”

In the different geographic areas, Pulse Asia said only two issues were cited as an urgent national concern by majority of residents – “inflation (52 percent in Mindanao) and low workers’ pay (53 percent in the Visayas).”

In Metro Manila, it added that, “the most often mentioned urgent national concerns are low workers’ pay (41 percent), inflation (43 percent), and corruption (49 percent).”

In the rest of Luzon, the top concerns deemed urgent by residents are creating more jobs (37 percent), fighting governmental corruption (38 percent), reducing poverty (41 percent), controlling inflation (44 percent), and increasing the pay of workers (48 percent).

Class ABC “are most concerned about corruption in government (37 percent), poverty (37 percent), low workers’ pay (42 percent), and inflation (49 percent).”

Class D rated its leading urgent national concerns to be low workers’ pay (43 percent), corruption (43 percent), and inflation (45 percent).

Class E cited its most concerned to be poverty (41 percent), job creation (42 percent), low workers’ pay (46 percent), and inflation (47 percent).

Across all geographic areas and socio-economic classes, however, “the least often cited urgent national concerns are territorial integrity (3 percent to 7 percent and 4 percent to 6 percent, respectively), terrorism (3 percent to 8 percent and 4 percent to 7 percent, respectively), and charter change (3 percent to 6 percent and 4 percent to 5 percent.”

As in its previous surveys, Pulse Asia’s latest was “based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above” and “has a ± 3% error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.”

“Subnational estimates for each of the geographic areas covered in the survey (i.e., Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao) have a ± 6% error margin, also at 95 percent confidence level.” It added.

Pulse Asia said its pool of academic fellows “takes full responsibility for the design and conduct of the survey, as well as for analyses it makes based on the survey data.” Most important of all, “in keeping with our academic nature, no religious, political, economic, or partisan group influenced any of these processes.”

“Pulse Asia Research undertakes Ulat ng Bayan surveys on its own without any party singularly commissioning the research effort,” it said.

More Filipino poor in 2014 just ‘a temporary setback’ – NAPC

mcmangahas Leave a comment

MORE Filipinos slipped to poverty last year but this “temporary setback” could be reversed soon this year. Or so the government believes.

The assurance came today, March 12, from the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) that acknowledged that increase in poverty incidence in the country by 1.2 percentage points in the first semester of 2014.

By NAPC’s data in 2013, 1 in 4 Filipinos or 24.9 percent or 1 in 4 live in poverty. In terms of number of families, poverty incidence is placed at 19.1 percent or 19 out of every 100 Filipino families, roughly equivalent to 24.3 million Filipinos.

Poverty Incidence refers to the count of poor individuals/families; those whose income fall below the poverty threshold, which in turn refers to the required minimum income/expenditure to meet the basic food & non-food requirements.

The national benchmark is that a family of five should earn at least P8,022 a month to be considered non-poor.

Of the total number of poor Filipinos in 2013, however, at least 10.7 percent or 11 in 100 citizens endure extreme poverty or could not meet basic food requirements. This figure, NAPC said, is 2 percent than the 2012 poverty statistics. NAPC said “around 2.5 million Filipinos were lifted out of poverty from 2012.”

The ‘”food threshold” income of P5,590 monthly is what a family of five needs to “meet the basic food needs that will satisfy the nutritional requirements for economically necessary and socially desirable physical activities.”

According to NAPC, the uptick in the proportion of poor Filipinos in 2014 “was not enough to negate the 3.3 percent reduction recorded in the same period in 2013.”

NAPC, in a press statement, said it hopes that in time, poverty incidence would dip again. The 2.3 percent reduction in 2013 “and other relevant factors will probably push poverty incidence for 2015 back toward a declining trajectory,” it said.

Poverty incidence refers to the count of individuals whose income fall below the poverty threshold, which in turn refers to the minimum income to meet the basic food and non-food necessities.

NAPC noted that recent monthly data showed that the inflation rate in February 2015 was a moderate 2.5 percent, similar to the food inflation rate in the first half of 2013.

“The price of rice in particular, an indicator of food inflation, has also stabilized at a 2.7 percent rate. This is not as steep a rise in the price of the commodity as 2014,” NAPC said. “If increases in food prices remain as they are and if the average income of the poor continue to grow on pace with 2013 and 2014, we will be seeing poverty on the decline once again.”

A different situation occurred in 2014, it said, “when high food prices and the after-effects of super typhoon Yolanda caused the reversal in poverty incidence last year.”

NAPC explained: “During the first six months of 2014, food prices spiked to 6.6 percent while non-food prices went up to 2.7 percent. This very high food inflation resulted in a higher poverty threshold of 9.4 percent or P10,534, and a food threshold of 9.5 percent or P7,350, more than three times the level in 2013.”

Interestingly, according to NAPC. “over the same period, the average income of the poor actually rose to 9.4 percent, which is the main reason why the subsistence incidence, or the number of poor Filipinos whose income was not enough to buy the minimum food requirements, remained flat at 10.5 percent for 2013 and 2014.”

But “had the income of the poor increased by a lesser rate, then the impact of food inflation on poverty would have been greater, setting the country’s poverty incidence back to the 2012 level.”

In NAPC’s view, “the increase in poverty incidence, therefore, can be traced to an increase in the number of the non-food poor, those who can afford to buy the minimum food requirements but cannot afford other basic necessities like health and education.”

In short, NAPC said, the additional number of the poor counted in 2014 could have been non-poor earlier. “From the data, we can say that some of those who became poor in the first half of 2014 were originally non-poor but are nonetheless vulnerable to shocks caused by calamities and price increase of food, what with their incomes only slightly higher than the poverty threshold.”

It is NAPC’s prognosis that “the increase in poverty incidence in the first half of 2014 is a temporary setback that can be reversed next year given a continuation of present conditions.”

NAPC was established in 1997 “to serve as the coordinating and advisory body for the implementation of the social reform and poverty alleviation agenda.”

A small and poorly funded agency under the Office of the President, in law NAPC is supposed to perform myriad functions, including:

• Coordinate with different national and local government agencies and the private sector to assure full implementation of all social reform and poverty alleviation programs;

• Coordinate with local government units in the formulation of social reform and poverty alleviation program for their respective areas in conformity with the National Anti-Poverty Action Agenda;

• Recommend policy and other measures to ensure the responsive implementation of the commitments under the SRA;

• Ensure meaningful representation and active participation of the bank sectors;

• Oversee, monitor and recommend measures to ensure the effective formulation, implementation and evaluation of policies, programs and resource allocations and management of social reform and poverty alleviation program;

• Advocate for the mobilization of funds by the national and local governments to finance social reform and poverty alleviation programs and capability building activities of people’s organizations;

• Provide financial and non-financial incentives to local government units with counterpart resources for the implementation of social reform and poverty alleviation programs; and

• Submit an annual report to Congress including, but not limited to, all aspects of its operations of programs and project implementation, financial status ad other relevant data as reflected by the basic reform indicators. - PCIJ, March 2015

More Filipino poor in 2014 just ‘a temporary setback’ – NAPC

mcmangahas Leave a comment

MORE Filipinos slipped to poverty last year but this “temporary setback” could be reversed soon this year. Or so the government believes.

The assurance came today, March 12, from the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) that acknowledged that increase in poverty incidence in the country by 1.2 percentage points in the first semester of 2014.

By NAPC’s data in 2013, 1 in 4 Filipinos or 24.9 percent or 1 in 4 live in poverty. In terms of number of families, poverty incidence is placed at 19.1 percent or 19 out of every 100 Filipino families, roughly equivalent to 24.3 million Filipinos.

Poverty Incidence refers to the count of poor individuals/families; those whose income fall below the poverty threshold, which in turn refers to the required minimum income/expenditure to meet the basic food & non-food requirements.

The national benchmark is that a family of five should earn at least P8,022 a month to be considered non-poor.

Of the total number of poor Filipinos in 2013, however, at least 10.7 percent or 11 in 100 citizens endure extreme poverty or could not meet basic food requirements. This figure, NAPC said, is 2 percent than the 2012 poverty statistics. NAPC said “around 2.5 million Filipinos were lifted out of poverty from 2012.”

The ‘”food threshold” income of P5,590 monthly is what a family of five needs to “meet the basic food needs that will satisfy the nutritional requirements for economically necessary and socially desirable physical activities.”

According to NAPC, the uptick in the proportion of poor Filipinos in 2014 “was not enough to negate the 3.3 percent reduction recorded in the same period in 2013.”

NAPC, in a press statement, said it hopes that in time, poverty incidence would dip again. The 2.3 percent reduction in 2013 “and other relevant factors will probably push poverty incidence for 2015 back toward a declining trajectory,” it said.

Poverty incidence refers to the count of individuals whose income fall below the poverty threshold, which in turn refers to the minimum income to meet the basic food and non-food necessities.

NAPC noted that recent monthly data showed that the inflation rate in February 2015 was a moderate 2.5 percent, similar to the food inflation rate in the first half of 2013.

“The price of rice in particular, an indicator of food inflation, has also stabilized at a 2.7 percent rate. This is not as steep a rise in the price of the commodity as 2014,” NAPC said. “If increases in food prices remain as they are and if the average income of the poor continue to grow on pace with 2013 and 2014, we will be seeing poverty on the decline once again.”

A different situation occurred in 2014, it said, “when high food prices and the after-effects of super typhoon Yolanda caused the reversal in poverty incidence last year.”

NAPC explained: “During the first six months of 2014, food prices spiked to 6.6 percent while non-food prices went up to 2.7 percent. This very high food inflation resulted in a higher poverty threshold of 9.4 percent or P10,534, and a food threshold of 9.5 percent or P7,350, more than three times the level in 2013.”

Interestingly, according to NAPC. “over the same period, the average income of the poor actually rose to 9.4 percent, which is the main reason why the subsistence incidence, or the number of poor Filipinos whose income was not enough to buy the minimum food requirements, remained flat at 10.5 percent for 2013 and 2014.”

But “had the income of the poor increased by a lesser rate, then the impact of food inflation on poverty would have been greater, setting the country’s poverty incidence back to the 2012 level.”

In NAPC’s view, “the increase in poverty incidence, therefore, can be traced to an increase in the number of the non-food poor, those who can afford to buy the minimum food requirements but cannot afford other basic necessities like health and education.”

In short, NAPC said, the additional number of the poor counted in 2014 could have been non-poor earlier. “From the data, we can say that some of those who became poor in the first half of 2014 were originally non-poor but are nonetheless vulnerable to shocks caused by calamities and price increase of food, what with their incomes only slightly higher than the poverty threshold.”

It is NAPC’s prognosis that “the increase in poverty incidence in the first half of 2014 is a temporary setback that can be reversed next year given a continuation of present conditions.”

NAPC was established in 1997 “to serve as the coordinating and advisory body for the implementation of the social reform and poverty alleviation agenda.”

A small and poorly funded agency under the Office of the President, in law NAPC is supposed to perform myriad functions, including:

• Coordinate with different national and local government agencies and the private sector to assure full implementation of all social reform and poverty alleviation programs;

• Coordinate with local government units in the formulation of social reform and poverty alleviation program for their respective areas in conformity with the National Anti-Poverty Action Agenda;

• Recommend policy and other measures to ensure the responsive implementation of the commitments under the SRA;

• Ensure meaningful representation and active participation of the bank sectors;

• Oversee, monitor and recommend measures to ensure the effective formulation, implementation and evaluation of policies, programs and resource allocations and management of social reform and poverty alleviation program;

• Advocate for the mobilization of funds by the national and local governments to finance social reform and poverty alleviation programs and capability building activities of people’s organizations;

• Provide financial and non-financial incentives to local government units with counterpart resources for the implementation of social reform and poverty alleviation programs; and

• Submit an annual report to Congress including, but not limited to, all aspects of its operations of programs and project implementation, financial status ad other relevant data as reflected by the basic reform indicators. - PCIJ, March 2015