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Articles by Fatima Arkin
Disturb forests, trigger new pandemics — study - Sub-Saharan Africa
[MANILA] The emergence of COVID-19 and other diseases of animal origin such as Ebola, SARS and HIV indicates that disturbing forests can trigger pandemics, say the authors of a new study, highlighting megatrends shaping the future of forests.
‘Soil health key to achieving SDGs’
[MANILA] Healthy soils are vital to addressing wide-ranging global challenges from food insecurity to climate change, but more data is needed to unlock these nature-based solutions, according to a new report released by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).
Disturb forests, trigger new pandemics — study - SciDev.Net
[MANILA] The emergence of COVID-19 and other diseases of animal origin such as Ebola, SARS and HIV indicates that disturbing forests can trigger pandemics, say the authors of a new study, highlighting megatrends shaping the future of forests.
Disturb forests, trigger new pandemics - study
By Fatima Arkin Speed read Tampering with forests can trigger pandemics of new diseases Digital technology that helps improve forests can also help illicit activities Rapid rise of the middle class puts stress on land and resources [MANILA] The emergence of COVID-19 and other diseases of animal origin such as Ebola, SARS and HIV indicates that disturbing forests can trigger pandemics, say the authors of a new study, highlighting megatrends shaping the future of forests.
Indigenous people to have say in UN climate policy
[MANILA] Indigenous peoples will have a chance to share their traditional knowledge on the environment and play a role in the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat climate change and build a sustainable low carbon future. Although indigenous people form less than five per cent of the world's population, they protect 80 per cent of global biodiversity, according to the UN.
Human footprint shows extinction, climate change steps
[MANILA] Halting or reversing the effects of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions is best done by using the human footprint to identify key regions where action can be the most cost-effective, says a new study.
Asian countries tap satellite data to fight COVID-19
[MANILA] Asia Pacific countries are leveraging geospatial information, digital solutions and artificial intelligence to enhance their response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and to help meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a new report. “Data is now a strategic asset,” Tiziana Bonapace, director of the ICT and disaster risk reduction division of UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), tells SciDev.Net.
Africa: Restoring Converted Lands Key to Combatting Extinction, Climate Change
Manila — Halting or reversing the effects of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions is best done by identifying key regions where action can be cost-effective, says a new study.
Teléfonos inteligentes para ayudar al tratamiento del dengue
Noticias destacadas de Salud SaludHace 12 horasPor: Fatima Arkin - Scidev.net Los teléfonos inteligentes pueden registrar de manera precisa el color de la orina, que indica los niveles de hidratación en los pacientes con dengue. Con estos datos, los especialistas pueden determinar los cuidados y tratamientos. En América Latina, según la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS), solo en los primeros cinco meses de 2020 se reportaron 1,6 millones de casos de dengue en la región.
Human footprint shows extinction, climate change steps
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Nearly half a billion people in Asia undernourished: UN
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Climate change ‘poses lifelong threat to children’s health’
[MANILA] Climate change is already damaging the health of the world’s children and threatens a lifelong impact unless countries meet the Paris Agreement targets to limit warming to well below 2˚C, according to a new study published in The Lancet. The study, which involves 35 global institutions, notes that children are more likely to develop respiratory diseases or asthma due to fine particulate air pollution that is principally driven by fossil fuels and “exacerbated by climate change”.
Q&A: “Tech opening up opportunities for Filipinos”
Science and technology providing opportunities for Filipinos in underserved areas, says top science official. [MANILA] Fortunato de la Peña, secretary of the Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology (DOST), says that his focus on bringing “Science to the People”, his official policy slogan, is about helping all Filipinos sustainably develop their local expertise, no matter how narrow, to help uplift underserved regions.
Drug-resistant malaria spreading fast in South-East Asia
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Asia Pacific old-growth forest decline fastest globally
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Dengue researcher faces charges in vaccine fiasco
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Dengue vaccine fiasco leads to criminal charges for researcher in the Philippines
Parents brought pictures of children immunized with Dengvaxia to a 2018 hearing at the Philippine Senate. NOEL CELIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES By Fatima ArkinApr. 24, 2019 , 3:55 PM A prominent pediatrician and medical researcher in the Philippines has been indicted over the failed—and many say premature—introduction of Dengvaxia, a vaccine against dengue that was yanked from the Philippine market in 2017 because of safety issues.
Dengue vaccine fiasco leads to criminal charges for researcher in the Philippines
A prominent pediatrician and medical researcher in the Philippines has been indicted over the failed—and many say premature—introduction of Dengvaxia, a vaccine against dengue that was yanked from the Philippine market in 2017 because of safety issues. If convicted of accusations leveled at her by the national Department of Justice (DOJ), Rose Capeding, 63, former head of the dengue department of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) here, could face up to 48 years in prison.
A year on, CIDCA struggles to get off the ground
Chinese flag flutters on the Chinese consulate in Karachi, Pakistan. Photo by: REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro MANILA — Understaffing, slowness, and internal politics plague the China International Development Cooperation Agency, or CIDCA, one year after the Chinese government announced its creation in March 2018, leaving some experts asking why so little has happened.
No silver bullet for arsenic in groundwater
[MANILA] No single method will work in all locations where arsenic needs to be removed from groundwater, says a United Nations University (UNU) review of 31 technologies developed over the past 20 years. Released on 31 January, the review compares the effectiveness and costs of technologies tested in laboratories or through field trials to remove arsenic in groundwater — a health threat to at least 140 million people in 50 countries, according to the World Health Organisation.
Indigenous people to have say in UN climate policy
[MANILA] Indigenous peoples will have a chance to share their traditional knowledge on the environment and play a role in the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat climate change and build a sustainable low carbon future. Although indigenous people form less than five per cent of the world's population, they protect 80 per cent of global biodiversity, according to the UN.
Indigenous people to have say in UN climate policy
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Fish protein wafers to ease acute malnutrition in children
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Amid global soil crisis, governments struggle to reach farmers
Cultivated soil. Photo by: Jan Kroon / CC0 MANILA — To help tackle nutrient deficiency and plastic pollution in India’s soils, the country has one of the best knowledge delivery systems and trained human resource power in agriculture research. And yet, over 59 percent of the farming households receive no assistance from either their government or the private sector, according to the 2013 National Sample Survey conducted by the Indian government, the latest and most authoritative of its kind.
UN Green Climate Fund sees nearly $840M worth of IDB projects lapse
A view of the Inter-American Development Bank building in Washington, D.C. Photo by: Wally Gobetz / CC BY-NC-ND MANILA — Two years ago, Argentina’s new ambitious renewable energy law received a multimillion-dollar boost from the world’s largest international climate fund.
In Bahrain, UN Green Climate Fund board meeting shows a house back in order
MANILA — Three months after a breakdown of its last board meeting, the world’s largest international climate fund seems to have its house in order. The United Nations’ Green Climate Fund kick-started a process to replenish its dwindling finances and approved over a billion dollars’ worth of projects to help developing countries adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. These decisions were made during a four-day board meeting in Bahrain that ended Oct. 20.
India is pushing to promote open access academic journals, but quality concerns remain a challenge
Vrushali Dandawate, head librarian at the AISSMS College of Engineering in Pune, India, is a tireless supporter of home-grown open-access journals. Given the chance, she will impress on anyone she works with – librarians, researchers, teachers – the many benefits of these journals over traditional ones that keep research papers behind a paywall.
Q&A: ADB to boost climate investment
[MANILA] Woochong Um, director-general of sustainable development and climate change, Asian Development Bank (ADB) , Manila, says that the bank intends to multiply the impact of its own financing by luring in greater private sector investment in climate solutions for its vulnerable member countries.In this interview with SciDev.Net , Um, who is attending the annual Climate Week NYC (24-30 September) in New York, shares his thoughts on the Japan-led bank’s ambitious climate target for 2030,...
The ambassadors for open access standards in the global South
Vrushali Dandawate, head librarian at the AISSMS College of Engineering in Pune, India, is a tireless supporter of home-grown open-access (OA) journals.Given the chance, she will impress on anyone she works with — librarians, researchers , teachers — the many benefits of these journals over traditional ones that keep research papers behind a paywall.She will tell them how they more often publish papers in a local language, making the research accessible to a wider group of people; and how...
The ambassadors for open access standards in the global South
Vrushali Dandawate, head librarian at the AISSMS College of Engineering in Pune, India, is a tireless supporter of home-grown open-access (OA) journals.Given the chance, she will impress on anyone she works with — librarians, researchers , teachers — the many benefits of these journals over traditional ones that keep research papers behind a paywall.She will tell them how they more often publish papers in a local language, making the research accessible to a wider group of people; and how...
Scant progress at Bangkok climate talks
[TORONTO] The weeklong U.N. climate talks in Bangkok made scant progress towards the goals set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to policymakers, just months away from a crunch meeting in Katowice, Poland this December, where the rule book is set to be finalised.Negotiators met in the Thai capital Bangkok until Sunday (9 September) to hash out the rules and processes needed to provide the operational guidance for fulfilling the terms of the agreement.
Scant progress at Bangkok climate talks
[TORONTO] The weeklong U.N. climate talks in Bangkok made scant progress towards the goals set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to policymakers, just months away from a crunch meeting in Katowice, Poland this December, where the rule book is set to be finalised. Negotiators met in the Thai capital Bangkok until Sunday (9 September) to hash out the rules and processes needed to provide the operational guidance for fulfilling the terms of the agreement.
Q&A: Behind the breakdown at UN's Green Climate Fund
TORONTO — Last month, the international climate change community was left reeling amid a disastrous fallout at the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund board meeting in Songdo, South Korea. The fund failed to approve almost a billion dollars in proposed projects, with board members still tussling over how to progress with GCF’s first official replenishment process. On top of that, the fund’s Executive Director Howard Bamsey unexpectedly resigned, leaving GCF scrambling to find a successor.
After Trump's withdrawal from Paris, a mixed year on US climate action
TORONTO — Last month marked a year since United States President Donald Trump announced his intention to pull out of the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change. In the intervening year, however, U.S. representatives continue to participate in international climate change negotiations and meetings. Meanwhile, the national government still funds some climate adaptation and mitigation initiatives in the developing world.
At the UN's Green Climate Fund, the honeymoon is over
NEW YORK — At the United Nations Green Climate Fund, the honeymoon is over. What started out in 2010 as a promising marriage with equal partnership between developed and developing countries at the world’s largest international climate fund has resulted in a breakdown of its board meeting held last week in Songdo, South Korea.
What you need to know about blockchain in 2018
Photo by: BeatingBetting.co.uk / CC BY TORONTO — Blockchain is gaining speed in the humanitarian sector. The technology is still in its early days, yet more than half of social-good blockchain initiatives are estimated to impact beneficiaries by the end of this year, according to a Stanford University report published in April. These concepts have the potential to impact countless people.
African swine fever ‘devastating’ if it spreads beyond China
Republish We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines: You have to credit our authors. You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article. You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
Scientists and subscription journals tussling for power
A recent controversy triggers long-standing debate over subscription vs open- access journals.reports.Scientists are getting more and more interested in open-access journals.
The Green Climate Fund commits billions, but falls short on disbursements
MANILA — This year, the United Nations Green Climate Fund will commit over half of its $8.3 billion budget for climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives, including a milestone $1 billion approved at its last board meeting in February. This development comes as the fund continues to struggle with actually disbursing the money it has committed while preparing for a critical year ahead, with the rule book of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change expected to be finalized by December.
‘African swine fever may spread to South-east Asia from China’
[VIENNA] Outbreaks of African swine fever in widely different parts of China, over the past month, have prompted experts, including from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) , to warn that the virus could spill into adjacent South-east Asia, with devastating consequence for hog industries By Wednesday (5 September), eight outbreaks had been reported in locations as far apart as 1,000 kilometres within China, which has the world’s largest swine industry.
Reports of new HIV strain in the Philippines rejected
[MANILA] The UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS ) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have released statements categorically rejecting recent media reports suggesting that a new, infectious and untreatable strain of HIV has been discovered in the Philippines.“There is no new strain of HIV which has been found in the Philippines.
Asian countries to see net gain from automation
[MANILA] Jobs could be lost to artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics , but Asia is well-positioned to benefit from automation, says a report on the impact of technology on livelihoods.Published by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the report says the negative impact will be limited because automation usually affects only some aspects of a job, and its adoption is limited to places where doing so is technically and economically feasible.“There will be some dislocation for workers, but it's...
Reports of new HIV strain in the Philippines rejected
[MANILA] The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS ) and World Health Organization (WHO ) have released statements categorically rejecting the reports that came out recently in the media suggesting that a new, infectious and untreatable strain of HIV has been discovered in the Philippines.“There is no new strain of HIV which has been found in the Philippines.
Climate change forcing internal migration - World Bank
[MANILA] Climate change could force over 140 million people in South Asia, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa to migrate within their countries' borders by 2050, says a new World Bank (WB) The report, published March, focused on the intersection between slow-onset climate change impacts, internal migration patterns, and development.
Global water data to be crowdsourced from private sector
Sourcing data on water management from private corporations has been identified by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a new way to respond to the water crisis plaguing developing countries. According to a paper by the WRI published this month (March), while extensive data is available on global water scarcity, very little exists on water management practices.
Sea mining project off Papua New Guinea hits choppy waters
Despite a funds crunch and legal challenges mounted by coastal communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG), the world’s first deep-sea mining industry will go ahead, assures a spokesperson for Nautilus Minerals, the project developer.
Sea mining project off Papua New Guinea hits choppy waters
[MANILA] Despite a funds crunch and legal challenges mounted by coastal communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG), the world’s first deep-sea mining industry will go ahead, assures a spokesperson for Nautilus Minerals , the project developer.Noreen Dillane, the corporate communications manager at the Canada-registered Nautilus, tells SciDev.Net that the company views the ‘Solwara 1’ project as “ultimately lucrative” because of the rising demand for metals due to the development of electric...
Sea mining project off PNG hits choppy waters
[MANILA] Despite a funds crunch and legal challenges mounted by coastal communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG), the world’s first deep-sea mining industry will go ahead, assures a spokesperson for Nautilus Minerals , the project developer.Noreen Dillane, corporate communications manager at the Canada-registered Nautilus, tells SciDev.Net that the company views the ‘Solwara 1’ project as “ultimately lucrative” because of the rising demand for metals due to the development of electric vehicles...
How faith-based groups secured global climate funds
TORONTO — In July 2015, a bipartisan group of United States senators ensured the future of a billion dollars of U.S. support for the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund. They did so by championing an amendment in the appropriations sub-committee responsible for international climate finance that would eventually pave the way for President Barack Obama to draw two $500 million installments from the State Department to pay the GCF.
As drug war rages on in the Philippines, donor pull wanes
MANILA — For decades, international development organizations have considered the Philippines an accommodating and productive place to work. The country has historically attracted a significant and steady flow of foreign assistance from international donors to support its growth and development. And the Philippine government was viewed as a committed partner in delivering projects in critical sectors ranging from health to agriculture; education to economic development.
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