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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SPECIAL FOCUS:• Global Pesticide Use: Weighing

the risk and benefits

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:• Electric Vertical Take-Off and

Landing (VTOL) Aircraft

DID YOU KNOW:• Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019• Climate Change Impacts Hundreds

of Wildlife and Zoo Species• Why Is the Cold Weather

So Extreme if the Earth Is Warming?• Sound E-waste Management

in Canada: Is There Room For Improvement?

HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT:• Anticipating Future Disasters

Due to Climate Change

GOOD NEWS:• World’s First Fleet of Fully

Electric Buses in Shenzhen, China to Combat Air Pollution

VOICES:• CSW63 2019• World Information Transfer (WIT)

28th International Conference• 52nd session of the Commission

on Population and Development• Population Reference Bureau

POINT OF VIEW• Gender Equality: Key Catalyst

for sustainable development

SPECIAL FOCUS:Global Pesticide Use: Weighing the risk and benefits

“Education brings Choices. Choices bring Power.”

MAN VERSUS THE PEST Since the beginning of recorded history there have been records of battles

between man and pests. Pests include insects, weeds, fungi and bacteria and rodents. All of these compete directly with man for food and fiber and in many cases, they also spread disease acting as vectors. Pests problems have been recorded in the ancient writing of the Chinese, Egyptian and Hebrew peoples. The Book of Exodus (10:14-15) recounts that the locusts came up over the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt…”they cov-ered the face of the whole land so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all; the fruit of the trees….not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt”. (Robson et al in Frumkin, 2016).

Early man used a variety of techniques to control pests, most of them were ineffective. Chemicals were first used as early as 10,000 BCE when the Sumerians used sulphur to control insects and mites, as time progressed oth-ers, such as the Chinese used wood ash and natural plant products to control certain insects.

The control of pests that compete for food and fiber will contin-ue to be an issue as the world population increases. Today there are 7.7 billion people on the planet, this number will grow to 9.7 billion in 2050. The need for food and fiber will continue and the need to control pests, using many means including agricultural chemicals will increase.

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Rice farmers applying potent organophosphate pesticides, like chlorpyrifos to fight the rice weevil in Rangsit, Thailand.

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CHEMICALS TO CONTROL THE PESTS

Metals were also used as pest control both for field pests and for treatment of humans, including such dangerous things as arsenic and lead. Paris Green (cooper acetoarsenite) was one of the first compounds to be used on a wide scale basis for agricul-tural pests , it had properties as an insecticide and as a fungicide.

Pesticide use changed dramatically just before the Second World War. Dr. Paul Müller, a chemist who was working for the Swiss chemical company, Geigy found the utility of the insecticide compound dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, bet-ter known to us as DDT. DDT was effective as an insecticide and appeared to have low acute toxic properties. Soon after Dr. Müller saw its value to become an important insecticide during World War II. It was effective in controlling the vector for ma-laria the mosquitoes, and for Typhus, the body louse. Dr. Mül-ler received the 1948 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine for his 1939 discovery of insecticidal qualities and use of DDT in the control of vector diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.

After the war DDT was used extensively in agriculture and become one of the most widely used pesticides in history. It was used all over the world for the control of a wide range of pests. It was cheap, effective and long lasting. The last quality would ultimately be part of its demise. In addition to being persistent, it bioaccumulated in the environment, especially in the adipose tissue of animals and humans. It was also found to have a dramatic impact on the endocrine system.

THE RISKS OF PESTICIDES BECOME APPARENT

Worldwide there are almost 1.8 billion people involved in agriculture, and most of these people use pesticides. (Ala-vanja, 2009). It is estimated that globally there are about 5.6 billion pounds of pesticide used annually and there are some 25 million agricultural workers who are poisoned (Jeyarat-nam, 1990).

One of the most significant events in the recognition of the risks associated with pesticide use was the publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in 1962. Rachel Carson used the term biocide to describe a pesticide and she really helped us frame the issue. Pesticides are, by definition economic poisons, that are specifically designed to kill something. In the case of Silent Spring the DDT interfered with the calcium metabolism in the egg shells of birds the bird’s shells lacked integrity and would break, there were far fewer birds hatched over time, hence the name of the book, Silent Spring. This endocrine disruption is a common effect of the broad class of compounds the organochlorines which DDT belong to. DDT uses were banned for the most part in the early 1970s. It is legal to manufacture DDT in the US, though it can only be exported for use in foreign nations. DDT can only be used in the US for public health emergencies, such as controlling vector disease. Today, DDT is manufactured in North Korea, India, and China. DDT was canceled in 1972 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (National Pesticide Information Center – Oregon State University).

HOW DO WE BALANCE The challenge is how do we effectively control the pest, still

maintain the ecosystem and avoid causing harm to beneficial organisms? Take for example the use of insecticides that im-pact pollinators. The same pesticides that are effective for con-trolling serious harmful insects like the rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) and the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) are also lethal to beneficial insects like the honey bee (Apis mel-lifera).

Pollinators, including the honey bee, are responsible for seventy-five percent of the world’s food production. In recent years there have been numerous reports of a general decline in pollinators worldwide, many researchers attribute part of this decline to the increase in global pesticide use, in particu-lar newer compounds called neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids are highly toxic to a range of insects, including honey bees and other pollinators. But this may be such one factor in a very complex problem, other factors such as nutrition of the bees, changing weather patterns and parasites that attack the bee colonies have also been associated with the decline. If the trend of pollinator decline continues, we will suffer serious consequences related to food shortages and famine.

“It is estimated that globally there are about 5.6 billion pounds of pesticide used annually and there are some 25 million agricultural workers who are poisoned (Jeyarat- nam, 1990)”

Inspecting GMO cotton plants in Hebei Province China. Chinese Farmers use Bt cotton to reduce bollworm and reduce the use of pesticides

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ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES Given the risks to the environment on increased pesticide

use manufacturers have worked aggressively to make newer compounds that do no persistent in the environment, did not impact beneficial insects and still provide control at an afford-able cost. There has been significant progress in this area. At the same time many developing countries still rely on the very inexpensive older pesticide products and are continuing to use them in large quantities. New pest control technologies, the incorporation of integrated pest management (IPM) and other techniques are effective, but these technologies must be made available to the developing countries who bear the bur-den of most of the pest losses and use most of the more dan-gerous pesticides.

GMO CROPS The other technology that was incorporation of Geneti-

cally Modified Crops (GMOs), most commonly known as GMOs into large scale agriculture. Most of the major agro-nomic crops grown in the world now use GMO seeds. The top seven crops GMO are: corn, soy, cotton, alfalfa, papaya, canola and sugar beets.

There are studies that support the fact that GMO crop pro-duction does in fact reduce the use of pesticides. On average, GM technology adoption has reduced chemical pesticide use by 37%, increased crop yields by 22%, and increased farmer profits by 68%. Yield gains and pesticide reductions are larger for insect-resistant crops than for herbicide-tolerant crops. Yield and profit gains are higher in developing countries than in developed countries. (Klümper and Qaim, 2014).

In July 2018 USDA ERS released a report on the major agronomic crops and the percentage of these crops that are

GMO. Herbicide-tolerant (HT) crops, which tolerate potent herbicides (such as glyphosate, glufosinate, and dicamba), provide farmers with a broad variety of options for effec-tive weed control. Based on USDA survey data, the percent of domestic soybean acres planted with HT seeds rose from 17 percent in 1997 to 68 percent in 2001, before plateauing at 94 percent in 2014. HT cotton acreage expanded from ap-proximately 10 percent in 1997 to 56 percent in 2001, before reaching a high of 91 percent in 2014. Adoption rates for HT corn grew relatively slowly immediately following the com-mercialization of GE seeds. However, adoption rates increased following the turn of the century. Currently, approximately 90 percent of domestic corn acres are produced with HT seeds.

Insect-resistant crops, which contain genes from the soil bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) and produce insecticidal proteins, have been available for corn and cotton since 1996. Domestic Bt corn acreage grew from approximately 8 percent in 1997 to 19 percent in 2000, before climbing to 82 percent in 2018. Bt cotton acreage also expanded, from 15 percent of U.S. cotton acreage in 1997 to 37 percent in 2001. Currently, 85 percent of U.S. cotton acres are planted with genetically en-gineered, insect-resistant seeds.

Increases in adoption rates for Bt corn may be due to the commercial introduction of new varieties resistant to the corn rootworm and the corn earworm (prior to 2003, Bt corn vari-eties only targeted the European corn borer). Adoption rates for Bt corn may fluctuate over time, depending on the sever-ity of European corn borer and corn rootworm infestations. Similarly, adoption rates for Bt cotton may depend on the severity of tobacco budworm, bollworm, and pink bollworm infestations. (USDA 2018). Corn, cotton and soy have gone from near 0 percent in 1996 to almost 95 percent in 2018. The ISAAA estimates that in 2017 there were 189.9 million hec-tares of genetically modified crops grown.

In many countries the women bear the largest burden for taking care of the crops, the farmstead and the family. Here a woman is taking vegetables to mar-ket in Ghana, West Africa

Much of agricultural production and crop maintenance, such as watering is done by hand as seen here in Hebei Province China.

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SO, WHAT IS NEXT? The real question is, how do we grow enough food for al-

most 10 billion people without harming the environment and ourselves. The US NIH NCI has shown it is massive Agri-cultural Health Study that there is evidence of increased inci-dence of cancer of the prostate, lung, colon, pancreas, bladder, leukemia, and multiple myeloma with increasing lifetime ex-posure to certain pesticides.

In March 2015, IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO) classified glyphosate as “probably carcino-genic to humans” (Group 2A). This was based on “limited” evidence of cancer in humans (from real-world exposures that actually occurred) and “sufficient” evidence of cancer in ex-perimental animals (from studies of “pure” glyphosate). IARC also concluded that there was “strong” evidence for genotoxic-ity, both for “pure” glyphosate and for glyphosate formulations. The IARC Monographs evaluation is based on the systematic assembly and review of all publicly available and pertinent studies, by independent experts, free from vested interests. It follows strict scientific criteria, and the classification system is recognized and used as a reference all around the world. This is because IARC evaluations are based on independent sci-entific review and rigorous criteria and procedures. To reach these conclusions, IARC reviewed about 1000 studies. Some of the studies looked at people exposed through their jobs, such as farmers. Others were experimental studies on cancer and cancer related effects in experimental systems. (WHO IARC 2015). Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbi-cides in the world, it was first used in the agricultural market by Monsanto in 1974. Glyphosate became a very important tool in the development of GMO crops because of the ability of plant breeders to modify the soybean to tolerate the herbi-cide. Current glyphosate-resistant crops include soy, maize (corn), canola, alfalfa, sugar beets, and cotton. With the large increase in GMO crops that are glyphosate tolerant has come a large increase in the use of glyphosate, with the IARC des-ignation the question becomes does the use of these GMOs

”DDT was an effective insecticide.......and was used extensively in

agriculture .......... all over the world”

increase the risk to human health based on the increase in the use of this herbicide. Remember, too that in the developing world, countries have minimal pesticide regulation, the em-phasis is often on the production of the crop and not of the protection of the farmers.

Chemical manufactures have made an effort in the past decade to increase the product stewardship programs they have in developing countries to train and educate growers and applicators the risks as well as the benefits of using these crops. There needs to be a much greater emphasis on these programs to ensure that rural communities, not just the farmers and pesticide applicators, but all of the people in these commu-nities are made aware of the risks associated with increased pesticide use. Governments and universities must also take the lead in educating the local people on an integrated ap-proach, new varieties, timing, beneficial insects, crops rota-tion, and organic agriculture are also options to reduce pesti-cide use overall and to ensure that when these compounds are used they are used carefully, prudently and economically with health and safety being the primary goal.

Author: Dr. Mark Gregory RobsonBoard of Governors Distinguished Service Professor, Editor in Chief – Human and Ecological Risk Assessment. Rutgers University - School of Environmental and Biological Sciences

REFERENCESM. Alavanja. Re Environ Health 24(4):303-309. 2009.J. Jeyaratnam. WHO Acute pesticide poisoning : a major global health problem. 43 (3) 139-144 1990. W. Klümper and M. Qaim, PLOS ONE https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0111629. 2014.M. Robson, et al. In Environmental Health Third Edition Jossey Bass. Pp 477 – 501. 2016. WHO IARC Monograph 112. 2015.

While chemical methods are used worldwide, some traditional methods such as the scarecrow are still used in some countries, here in Mỹ Tho, Vietnam.

Pesticide Applicators often wear little or no protective equipment (PPE) when making a pesticide application as seen here in Xiamen China.

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FOOD FOR THOUGHTElectric Vertical Take-Off

and Landing (VTOL) AircraftAngelenos, the name the citizens of Los Angeles proudly

inherit, are set back 104 hours and $9.7 billion each year due to urban traffic congestion. Such tribulations are not unique to Southern California. For decades, a combination of sustained economic growth and cheap fuel allowed the car to drive urban development around the world. Today, the car-centric urban development model is becoming outmoded. Available urban area for supply-side infrastructure development is diminish-ing and cities such as London, Sydney, Tokyo and Mumbai are feeling the growing pains. This is a direct consequence of widespread urbanization and a swelling global middle class.

Figure 1: Global urban population of countries categorized by in-come bracket, 1961 - 2017. [1]

A whole host of technological solutions to mitigate the baleful effects of urbanization have been proposed, from pre-dictive traffic analytics powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to car-sharing business models backed by ubiquitous internet connectivity. However, one emerging technology, the electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, has caught our attention. This article seeks to explore the engineering fea-sibility of the eVTOL machine, identify its use cases, examine its benefits and concomitant risks and evaluate the broader knock-on effects of an eVTOL revolution. Aeronauts around the world are enlivened by the idea of aviation innovation and decentralization. The opposite may be said for wonted munici-pal leaders. However, if we are to surmount the herculean is-sues that face our 21st century urban societies, innovation and technological pluck will need to be habitual.

When in Doubt, Look UpFrom an engineering standpoint, the technology that un-

derpins eVTOL aircraft is certainly available. Battery prices

have seen a dramatic fall in the past decade, driven by electric vehicle and mobile telecommunications investment. Battery energy and power densities are also key metrics. Both have seen 10% improvements year-on-year. Another technologi-cal development is pilot control augmentation. Today’s tech giants, notably Google, Facebook, Apple, Baidu, Tencent and Amazon and prescient car manufacturers such as Telsa, BMW and Volvo, have driven significant advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI). For eVTOLs, AI would reduce pilot work-load and overall accident risk appreciably. Smart eVTOL com-puters could learn how to avoid dangerous weather or recog-nize incoming birds and other eVTOL aircraft more reliably than a human could. In the future, eVTOL computers could understand the nature of piloting errors and pre-empt poor human decisions. By utilizing a medley of radar, camera, LI-DAR and IR sensors, on-board computers could peer through rain, fog and darkness, improving an eVTOL’s reliability. The Internet of Things (IoT) will allow eVTOLs to learn collabora-tively, sharing flight data and best safety practices. Finally, by utilizing distributed electric propulsion and innovative flight configurations, eVTOLs would be substantially quieter than helicopters and be acoustically on-par with common urban background noises such as passing trucks, trains or a two-lane highway. [2]

Figure 2: Uber Elevate eVTOL aircraft concept [5].

But eVTOLs are not a panacea for urban mobility. De-pending on what future regulation permits, they will likely play a crucial role in point-to-point long-distance transit in

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the emerging mobility ecosystem that includes shared autono-mous electric vehicles, eBikes and revamped public transport networks. Vertical mobility may be organized in two catego-ries: intra-city and inter-city transportation. In sprawling cit-ies such as Los Angeles or Beijing, sub-eighty-kilometer intra-city flights will connect suburban districts with urban ones. They promise to assuage congestion but also current urban housing woes by trimming suburban commute times. This would stimulate residential projects outside traditional city boundaries. Inter-city flight, ranging from 80 to 160 kilom-eters, will connect medium-sized cities as one urban ecosys-tem. Commuting between cities will become possible and re-duce the need for inflexible newly laid infrastructure.

Special mission operations for eVTOL aircraft should not be overlooked. eVTOLs outcompete helicopters on sustain-ability, cost, noise, speed and ease of operation, only lacking in payload capacity. Expedited transport, on-demand medical services, fire and search rescue flights and entertainment pho-tography all lie within the scope of eVTOLs.

Multi-Dimensional BenefitsCongestion is a ubiquitous issue but most pressing in to-

day’s sprawling metropolises. Summing the fuel, opportunity and freight delay costs, congestion set the United States back nearly $300 billion in 2016. [3] By its nature, vertical mobility would reduce ground-based traffic and the environmental costs of travel in sprawling cities. Few cities have sufficient space to build new supply-side infrastructure whilst demand-side tools such as dynamic pricing and sharing incentives represent tem-porary solutions. Cities that employ vertical mobility can ex-pect long-term traffic-related and infrastructure savings.

With reduced ground-based congestion and the introduc-tion of eVTOLs comes less dependency on carbon-based fu-els. Electric motors are over three times more efficient than internal combustion engines in converting stored energy to motion. The distributed electric propulsion technology that eVTOLs sport is another three times more efficient than sin-gle-shaft helicopter configurations. Thus, relative to helicop-ters, eVTOLs offer a 10-fold reduction in energy consumption per passenger and would be emission free.

There is also a first-mover advantage associated with es-tablishing the novel supply chains associated with vertical-mobility. As expected, this manufacturing capacity will not be limited to passenger transport but extend to the various other industries the eVTOLs are expected to tap into. Cities that take an integrated approach to eVTOL deployment in the pas-senger, inspection and goods transport services could reap the benefits of a three-pronged innovation stimulus on a single initial investment. Infrastructure, air traffic control systems and grid enhancement programs could be shared across these industries. In this way, vertical mobility is the gateway for broader sustainability stimulus and economic growth. Invest-ment into integrated renewable microgrids, a concept driven

by plummeting renewable costs and increased political impe-tus, will provide a dual-use foundation for both the emerging vertical mobility and electric vehicle industries. In general, vertical mobility will not be deployed in a silo; vigilant city leaders will be able to capitalize on an integrated approach.

The lives of urban dwellers will also improve immensely as vertical mobility is deployed in their cities and neighbor-hoods. The emerging ‘seamless mobility’ transportation mod-el will undoubtedly benefit from the flexibility and speed of eVTOL travel. As platforms such as Uber or Moovit begin to integrate traditionally disconnected transportation modes and the Internet of Things allows for the transportation hand-offs to be optimized, citizens will experience a leap in transit speed. eVTOLs are estimated to reduce travel times by 20% for trips over 20 kilometers, with this number growing to 60% as distances touch 60 kilometers. [4] Vertical mobility will only augment the on-demand transportation trend with increased flexibility over longer distances. As cities continue to expand, rigid train and road networks will become more expensive to recast. eVTOL deployment will go hand-in-hand with new suburban residential projects.

Hurdles in the Air

However promising vertical mobility may be, there are a nu-merous barriers and provisos that stand in its way. The most pat-ent is the need for newly-fashioned infrastructure. A network of vertiports, enhanced electrical grid systems to support localized power drains and air traffic control centers will be needed. Be-fore cities begin the process, each should ask the question, “what are we planning for?” As technology and demand evolves, cit-ies must employ an iterative design thinking approach to their infrastructure development to extend the longevity of their investments. Effective energy storage will be needed to make vertiports fail-safe and reduce momentary power drains on the grid. Vertiports could employ solutions such as offering energy collocation solutions for surrounding neighborhoods, serving a dual economic purpose. To further increase energy resilience of the vertiport and the surrounding grid infrastructure, integrat-

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ed autonomous electric vehicle networks could be utilized to transfer and supply temporary energy in times of high eVTOL energy demand. Especially in dense metropolises such as New York or Tokyo, innovative ways to integrate vertiport energy storage will need to be conjured up.

Air traffic control (ATC) for vertical mobility will also need to be reimagined to support a high volume of short-hop flights. Traditional centralized approaches to ATC is not be compati-ble with the decentralized nature of an eVTOL network. Thus, we can expect a webwork of smaller, highly automated ATC towers to be dotted across an urban landscape. Much of the ATC network could exist virtually between eVTOLs and, im-portantly, without vocal input. Although digitalizing ATC will greatly improve efficiency and reliability, integrating such an ATC network into existing passenger jet ATC networks will present a hurdle. eVTOLs will also become prime targets for malicious cyberattacks. The public and municipalities will re-quire assurance that the ATC networks are secure before ex-perimental flights begin.

Safety has and will remain a lasting issue with air travel. From a technological standpoint, advancements in artificial in-telligence, sensor equipment and collision avoidance algorithms will need to be made before augmented or autonomous flight becomes a reality. Safety protocol will be another complication, since urban landscapes will undoubtedly lack available safety ‘bail-out’ zones for eVTOLs. To overcome this, ATC and safety-centric routing algorithms should be used to minimize passen-ger risk and ground-level damage in case of an emergency. The phycological barrier to flying will remain prevalent, and public resistance autonomously-piloted aircraft could be significant. Similarly, the public acceptance of passing noise disturbances in urban areas will be a key policymaking talking point.

Finally, but most importantly, vertical mobility will have to surmount a variety of political barriers to gain broader public and private sector acceptance. Airworthiness regulations that

address self-piloting, low-flying urban aircraft will be needed to stimulate commercial and public commitment. A vertical mobility regulatory framework will require municipalities to create a diverse team of technologists, aviation experts, urban developers and public representatives to comprehensively in-corporate the social, engineering and public concerns. Policy will also need to incentivize aircraft testing and infrastructure development to drive initial investment into vertical mobility. Policy reform would be aided by including the public in the developmental plans. Cities will need to establish a mélange of partnerships with various public and private sector inter-est groups to determine how their citizens will value vertical mobility. Not only will these partnerships guide eVTOL devel-opment, but they will also help cities predict operational and regional infrastructure deployment demands.

Concluding RemarksToday’s metropolises need solutions to increase passenger

throughput and obviate supply-side infrastructure develop-ment. When automobiles arrived onto the international scene just over one hundred years ago, there was a total absence of paved roads, traffic management networks, petrol stations an regulatory framework to guide the technology’s evolution. Yet today, cars define our lives, our cities and even our foreign policy. Whilst still in its nascent stages, eVTOL aircraft offer an unparalleled opportunity to redefine our urban landscapes and, this time, accelerate sustainable urban development. We will likely witness a bifurcation of eVTOL pioneers and followers, with the former reaping the benefits of economic stimulation and a knowledge of best practices. Municipal leaders will need to build a network of partnerships between emerging start-ups, incumbent aviation players, infrastruc-ture developers and the technology sector. This will streamline policy reform and drive commercial innovation to surmount the final hurdles. Today’s cities are ripe for eVTOL disruption; leaders should be vigilant of evolving technological and social demands and be ready to seize the opportunity of vertical mo-bility when it comes.

Author: Farri Gaba, WIT RepresentativeBibliography: [1] The World Bank, “Urban Population,” The World Bank, 2018. [Online]. Availa-ble: data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL. [2] Uber Elevate, “Fast-Forwarding to a Future of On-Demand Urban Air Transportation,” Uber Elevate, 27 October 2016. [Online]. Available: uber.com/elevate.pdf. [3] Deloitte, “Elevating the Future of Mobility,” Deloitte Insights, 2018. [Online]. Available: www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/nl/Documents/consumer-business/deloitte-nl-cip-elevating-the-future-of-mobility.pdf. [4] Porsche Consulting, “The Future of Vertical Mobility,” Porsche Consulting, 2018. [Online]. Available: porsche-consulting.com/fileadmin/docs/Startseite/News/tt1371/The_Future_of_Vertical_Mobility_A_Porsche_Consulting_study__C_2018.pdf. [5] J. J. Mark, “Urbanization,” 7 April 2014. [Online]. Avail-able: ancient.eu/urbanization. [6] United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Heat Is-land Effect,” United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2018. [Online]. Available: epa.gov/heat-islands. [7] J. V. L. Lopez, “Advanced VTOL Aircraft, Group Design Project, Individ-ual Report,” Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London, London, 2017. [8] Künzli, “Public-health impact of outdoor and traffic-related air pollution: a European assessment,” ScienceDirect, 2 September 2000. [Online]. Available: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673600026532. [9] D. C. Brand, “The health costs of air pollution from cars and vans,” Clean Air Day 2018, 18 May 2018. [Online]. Available: cleanairday.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=7eb71636-7d06-49cf-bb3e-76f105e2c631. [10] M. LEGAULT, “General aviation: Reconceiving the personal plane,” Composite World, 2 7 2018. [Online]. Available: compos-itesworld.com/articles/general-aviation-reconceiving-the-personal-plane. [Accessed 2019].

“Figure: 3: The urban ecosystem: air taxis will play an integral role alongside other urban transportation systems.”

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Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019

With the start of 2019 and a global popu-lation of 7.7 billion, the World Health Or-ganization aims for a 5-year plan to ensure that 1 billion people have universal health coverage, protection from health emer-gencies, and better health and well-being overall. This ambitious goal comes with ten challenges which include: Air pollution & climate change, Noncommunicable diseas-es, Global Influenza Pandemic, Fragile and Vulnerable Settings, Antimicrobial resist-ance, Ebola and other high-threat patho-gens, Weak primary healthcare, Vaccine hesitancy, Dengue, and HIV.

For developing countries, these threats are complex and interconnected. Air pol-lution in developing countries kills over 7 million people prematurely through heart, lung, and other diseases. These countries rely on industries emitting air pollution for their livelihood. Thus, lowering air pollution will be a difficult challenge to solve.

Many low-income countries globally also struggle with poor health systems with lack of access to necessary vaccinations for example. These worsening, already weak health systems result from vulnerable set-

tings such as conflict zones and natural dis-asters that harm large populations, especial-ly children and mothers.

Dengue, a mosquito illness in countries with tropical weather, has the potential to put 40% of people in the world at risk. Both developing and developed countries face the possibility of antimicrobial resistance to previously successful drugs and vaccine hes-itancy by individual people globally. This is a public policy and science issue for govern-ments and scientists alike. People globally continue to lack access to HIV testing and treatment, especially marginalized popula-tions such as MSM and transgender people. The final threat, unknown high threat path-ogens which could erupt in an epidemic, is constantly being monitored by WHO and the global public health community. These threats are large-scale concerns for 2019 and the years to come. Source: https://www.who.int/emergencies/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019.

Climate Change Impacts Hundreds of Wildlife and Zoo Species

It is no secret that many of the globe’s en-vironmental and health related issues trace back to climate change. Climate change has magnified the intensity and frequency of global natural disasters, such as wildfires and hurricanes. These changes in our envi-ronment impact all facets of life, including zoo and wildlife species. In fact, zoos have been forced to develop new methods of fos-tering a sustainable and safe environment for their animals. One of these measures includes storing emergency provisions for over a hundred species, all of which require specific medical, dietary and habitat needs. Zoos must conduct years of planning to act quickly once they learn specific species need to be moved if the outdoors becomes an un-safe environment for them. Although years of planning are required, zoos have com-menced the necessary planning and research relatively recently.

A USDA-backed emergency-prepared-ness program for zoos and aquariums, the ZAHP Fusion Center, is assisting profes-

sional animal handlers as they prepare for catastrophes, such as wildfires. How can a person help evacuate a lion during such an occurrence? These are the types of questions that professional animal handlers must ask themselves and plan for. Both animals and humans are in danger during these situa-tions. Similar to apartment buildings and businesses, zoos are conducting regular fire drills to prepare themselves for a natu-ral disaster evacuation. This issue becomes more and more critical as climate change is causing species from all around the globe to go extinct. Thus, protecting the world’s spe-cies is becoming more of an urgent concern, especially as climate change is expected to escalate over the next several years. On October 30, 2018, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) published a report on how “hu-man activity is pushing the planet’s natural systems that support life on Earth to the brink.” The “Living Planet Report 2018: Aiming Higher” analyzes the impact of hu-man activity on the globe’s wildlife, forests, oceans, rivers and climate through various indicators, including the Living Planet Index (LPI). The LPI tracks global wildlife trends across 16,704 populations of 4,005 verte-brate species. By doing so, the LPI has shown that global populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians declined by 60% between 1970 and 2014. After outlin-ing changes in species distribution, extinc-tion risk and community composition, the report sheds light on the fact that humans have already pushed climate change, bio-sphere integrity, biogeochemical flows and land-system change beyond a safe limit. The report predicts that 2030 will be an end date for the biodiversity-related SDG targets, due to the difficulty of quickly stopping current trends.

Let this be a food for thought: If biodi-versity and the overall health of the planet are declining, but global commitment can still reverse this trend, what can we do to act quickly and take action for the health and sustainability of our planet’s wild life post-2020? The “Living Planet Report 2018: Aim-ing Higher” sets out a roadmap from 2020 and beyond and plans for a “convergence of the environment and human development agendas to build a sustainable future” (Liv-ing Planet Report 2018).

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Climate change impacts hundreds of zoo and wildlife species, whose safety and lon-gevity require significant planning and al-location of resources due to climate change. With climate change rapidly escalating, how can we combine environmental and human development agendas in order to build a sus-tainable future for all species, wildlife and human beings?Sources: wired.com/story/guide-climate-change, c402277.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/publi-cations/1187/files/original/LPR2018_Full_Re-port_Spreads.pdf

Why Is the Cold Weather So Extreme if the Earth Is Warming?

Winters are warming up faster as cli-mate change heats up the planet. Many peo-

ple wonder during periods of extreme cold weater that “If the Earth is getting warmer, how can winter still be so cold?”.

The answer lies the difference between local weather and climate. Climate refers to how the atmosphere acts over a long period of time, while weather describes what’s hap-pening on a much shorter time scale. The climate can be thought of, in a way, as the sum of long periods of weather. Even on a day when it is colder than average where you live, the world as a whole is frequently warmer than average. The map above shows an example from a period of unusually frigid weather in December 2017, when parts of the United States were 15 to 30 degrees Fahr-enheit colder than average, but the world as a whole was about 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 1979-2000 average.

While climate scientist expect that the world could warm, on average, by roughly two to seven degrees Fahrenheit by the end

of the century depending on how green-house gas emissions rise. This does not mean the end of the winter altogether, as record low temperatures will still occur, but will be-come rarer over time.

Also, One 2009 study found that the United States saw roughly as many record highs as record lows in the 1950s, but by the 2000s there were twice as many record highs as record lows.

Another cause is the dreaded weather system called the polar vortex. There’s grow-ing evidence to suggest that the polar vortex is appearing outside the Arctic more fre-quently, because of changes in the jet stream that are attributed to the warming atmos-phere. These changes help frigid air escape from the Arctic and swoop southward.Source: nytimes.com/interactive/2019/climate/winter-cold-weather.html?smid=li-share

Sound E-waste Management in Canada: Is there room for improvement?

The report entitled “Export of e-Waste

from Canada. A Story as Told by GPS track-ers” released by BAN (Basel Action Net-work), a US based NGO, provides infor-mation that some hazardous waste such as broken electronic devices are dumped in many countries including developing na-tions which lack the capacity of sound waste management putting people’s health and the environment at risk. To alleviate this prob-lem, the report provides recommendations to help Canada better regulate electronic products and their waste and comply to the Basel Convention. To clarify the issues raised in BAN’s report, and to better un-derstand how Canada meets its obligations under the Basel Convention and related na-tional legislation, a group of Canadian and

International NGOs met with Environment and Climate Change Canada on November 26, 2018 in Ottawa. Also, the ECCC experts noted that the Canadian Export and Import of Hazardous Waste and Hazardous Recy-clable Material Regulations are under the review.

NGOs highlighted the importance of the Basel Ban Amendment, which prohib-its the export of hazardous wastes, includ-ing all household waste which are destined for final disposal from OECD countries to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, Canada has opposed the amendment for a long time. NGOs also noted a new initiative that was put forward by Norway which includes the list of wastes that requires notification by ex-porting countries and consent by importing countries prior to export. If the proposal is approved, any plastic waste, including that from household waste will be considered under the Basel Convention as mixed waste will not be accepted for export without con-sent. However, Canada again opposed it. So currently in Canada, no mechanism is in place to validate the final destination of waste export. ECCC agreed with the impor-tance of both, the BAN amendment and the proposal from Norway. They, however, not-ed that a ban on waste export is a missed op-portunity for developing countries as some of their economic sectors might be negative-ly impacted.

ECCC also noted the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) framework is the mechanism for developing a national strategy on plastics. The idea of the national plan is to move towards waste reduction goal and zero plastic waste. An action plan will be developed jointly with stakeholders with targeted actions and pri-ority measures included, such as harmoniza-tion of standards, ability of plastic recycling and management of plastic throughout the lifecycle. Canada has not developed a po-sition on the Norway proposal yet. NGOs urged consideration of the proposal to advance the work to address plastics and support mechanisms that will encourage prevention through innovation in the pro-duction, use and management of plastics throughout the lifecycle process.Source: cela.ca/blog/2018-12-24/sound-e-waste-management-canada-there-room-improvement

World Ecology ReportWorld Information Transfer

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HEALTH & THE ENVIRONMENTAnticipating Future Disasters Due

to Climate ChangeClimate change is on

an unprecedented rise and has been predicted to exacerbate the im-pact of future environ-mental catastrophes. As global temperatures continue to warm, sea level will continue to rise, but this will de-pend on the level and rate of such change. The level of change depends on future global warm-ing and carbon dioxide emissions. The rate of change depends on how fast glaciers and ice sheets will melt. Since the early seventies, climate models have been par-ticularly good at predicting warmer temperatures.[1] While some may not have been exact, what was project-ed is very close to what was actually been observed later on. In the most recent report from the Intergovernmen-tal Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that came out in October 2018, the report noted that due to an increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, there will most likely be an increase in temperatures over most land surfaces.[2]

It is known that deviations in temperature and rain-fall due to rising greenhouse gases result in more in-tense climate and natural disasters.[3] As noted by NA-SA’s Earth Observatory, there will be an “increased risk of drought and increased intensity of storms, includ-ing tropical cyclones with higher wind speeds, a wet-ter Asian monsoon, and, possibly, more intense mid-latitude storms.”[3] With these extreme weather events already occurring, scientists, along with their climate models predict that if efforts to reverse the impacts of climate change are not enforced, future disasters will be catastrophic (IPCC, 2018).

These are indicators to show that globally, over many decades, the Earth’s climate has been warming and will continue to.

An increase in global temperatures could increase

the frequency and se-verity of storms. Glob-al warming may alter storm formation by decreasing the tem-perature difference between the poles and the equator. The tem-perature difference fu-els mid-latitude storms which affect the Earth’s most populated re-gions. Warmer temper-atures could increase

the quantity of water vapor that enters the atmosphere. This would result in a hotter, more humid environment. The conditions at the equator would not change much due to the fact that it is already hot and humid. On the other hand, in the poles – where the air is cold and dry – a slight increase in heat and water vapor could raise temperatures significantly. George Tselioudis, a research scientist at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) at Columbia University, reports, “global warming may cause the temperature difference between the poles and the equator to decrease and as the differ-ence decreases, so should the number of storms.”[4] As temperatures rise, more water vapor, which is fuel for storms, may evaporate into the atmosphere. Tselioudis claims that “creating an atmosphere more loaded with humidity, any storm that does develop has greater po-tential to develop into an intense storm.”

The combination of higher temperatures over land decreased equator-versus-pole temperature differences, and increased humidity may lead to extreme cycles of floods and droughts. This would be mostly due to the oc-currence of individual large storms rather than a series of smaller ones. Even if tropical storms do not change significantly, other environmental changes brought on by global warming could make the storms more de-structive. Sea levels can rise due to melting of land ice or glaciers, or because of thermal expansion of sea wa-

Source: 2009 State of the Climate Higlights

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The diagram shows specific examples of how climate change can affect human health, now and in the future. These effects could occur at

local, regional, or national scales. The examples listed in the first column are those described in each underlying chapter’s exposure pathway

diagram. Moving from left to right along one health impact row, the three middle columns show how climate drivers affect an individual’s

or a community’s exposure to a health threat and the resulting change in health outcome. The overall climate impact is summarized in the

final gray column. For a more comprehensive look at how climate change affects health, and to see the environmental, institutional, social,

and behavioral factors that play an interactive role in determining health outcomes, see the exposure pathway diagrams in chapters 2–8

Source: health2016.globalchange.gov

Anticipated Effects on Human Health

World Ecology ReportWorld Information Transfer

Spring 201912

ter as it warms up and changes in the amount of water stored on land. A rise in sea level would make coastal flooding more severe when a storm comes ashore.

As sea levels rise due to climate change, so do the global hazards and potential devastating damages from tsunamis, according to a new study by a multi-university team of scientists from the Earth Observatory of Singa-pore, the Asian School of the Environment at Nanyang Technological University, and National Taiwan Uni-versity, which included support fromVirginia Tech.[5] Even a minor rise in sea-level, by as much as a foot, can make tsunamis more deleterious for coastal communi-ties worldwide. Islands all over the world, including the Maldives, Seychelles and parts of Hawaii, could become uninhabitable within decades. People on islands and their cultures are extremely threatened. Although the issue has been addressed by governments and organi-zations, Stefan Rahmstorf, a professor of Ocean Physics at Potsdam University in Germany notes “even limiting warming to 2 degrees, in my view, will still commit some island nations and coastal cities to drowning.”[6]

According to a 2007 Christian Aid report, it is es-timated that 250 million people will be displaced be-tween 2007 and 2050 because of floods, hurricanes, and droughts .[7] The number of global heat waves is ex-pected to rise in the future as well. According to NASA Global Climate Change, the warmest days that took place once in 20 years are projected to occur every two or three years in the United States.[8] The agricultural sec-tor, very susceptible to climate change, will likely experi-ence the negative effects of extreme weather on future crop production as well. The International Food Policy Research Institute found that by 2050, climate change could cause a 17% decline in crop yields.[9] Ted Chai-ban, UNICEF Director of Programs says “As the world experiences a steady rise in climate-driven extreme weather events, it is children’s lives and futures that will be the most disrupted. Therefore, it is vital that govern-ments and the international community take concrete steps to safeguard children’s future and their rights.”[10]

Until recently, attempts like the Paris Climate Agree-

ment were attempting to limit global warming to 2 de-grees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. However, cur-rent projections suggest the world is on track to reach 3 degrees Celsius which will, according to warnings, predictions and climate models, redraw the map of the world. Although specific weather events are often isolat-ed in time and location, it would be wrong and danger-ous to consider the events unrelated. Although this topic is being discussed by the scientists, global policymak-ers and private business leaders, discussions are being held independently, rather than collectively. In order to prevent and decrease the impact of future disasters, all actors need to come together to cohesively implement action. Author: Yasmeen Raszack, WIT Representative

Sources:

1. Hausfather, Zeke. “Analysis: How Well Have Climate Models Projected Global

Warming?” Carbon Brief. Carbon Brief Ltd, 22 Jan. 2018.

2. Davenport, Coral. “Major Climate Report Describes a Strong Risk of Crisis as Early

as 2040.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 Oct. 2018.

3. “The Rising Cost of Natural Hazards.” NASA. NASA, 30 Mar. 2005.

4. Tselioudis, George. “Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms: Evidence from

Paleoclimate Data, Climate Modeling, and Modern Observations That 2 ◦C

Global Warming Could Be Dangerous.” Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics , Eu-

ropean Geosciences Union, 2016.

5. Mackay, Steve. “Climate Change Sea-Level Rises Could Increase Risk for More

Devastating Tsunamis Worldwide.” Virginia Tech Daily | Virginia Tech, Virginia

Polytechnic Institute and State University, 15 Aug. 2018.

6. Sutter, John. “Life in a Disappearing Country.” CNN, Cable News Network.

7. “Human Tide: the Real Migration Crisis.” Christian Aid, Christian Aid, May 2007.

“Global Climate Change: Effects.” NASA, California Institute of Technology, 28

Nov. 2018.

8. Ali, Sajjad et al. “Climate Change and Its Impact on the Yield of Major Food Crops:

Evidence from Pakistan” Foods (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 6,6 39. 24 May. 2017.

9. “How Travel and Tourism Can Contribute to the UN Sustainable Development

Goals.” The Olive Tree, Travel Impact Newswire, Oct. 2018.

10. English, Joe. “Children among Most Vulnerable as Extreme Weather Events Con-

tinue around the World.” UNICEF, 31 Aug. 2018.

13World Ecology ReportWorld Information Transfer

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World’s First Fleet of Fully Electric Buses in Shenzhen, China to Combat Air Pollution

Thanks to massive government fund-ing and advanced technologies, Shenz-hen in Guangdong Province, China has now possessed the world’s first full fleet of electric buses. Currently, there are 16,000 electric buses running in operation in Shenzhen, bringing tremendous positive impacts on alleviating air pollution.

Once the notorious polluted fac-tory town in southern China during the 1980s and 1990s, Shenzhen has done its best during the last two decades to al-leviate air pollution. It was officially rec-ognised by the United Nations as one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world in 2002. With its ambitious emission cuts, Shenzhen succeeded in reducing its average emission levels of air pollutants by more than half during the last decade. In 2009, Shenzhen was piloted as one of the 13 cities to imple-ment a national vehicle programme us-ing cleaner and renewable energy fuels. Under such programme, public transpi-ration has been prioritised to undergo “green revolution” and use cleaner and renewable energy fuels. In fact, the pro-gramme campaigns not only for buses but also taxis to use electric fuels.

The bus fleet in Shenzhen has been fully switched from traditional diesel

buses to electric buses since December last year to alleviate air pollution. It has been estimated that the emissions of car-bon dioxide (CO2) would be reduced by 40%, or by 440,000 tonnes per year in Shenzhen. Apart from carbon dioxide, the emissions of other types of air pol-lutants, e.g. nitrogen oxides, non-meth-ane hydrocarbons and particular matter would be reduced as well. More impor-tantly, running electric buses would conserve coal and minimise burning of fossil fuels. It has been estimated that operating a full fleet of electric buses in Shenzhen would help conserve 160,000 tonnes of coal on an annual basis.

There are a series of push factors for the success of the world’s first fleet of electric buses in Shenzhen. First, both central and local governments have allo-cated massive funding to cover the finan-cial costs of existing three bus companies in Shenzhen. The price of one single electric bus is around 1.8 million yuan, in which more than half of the price has been subsidied by governments. Second, Shenzhen does not possess a hilly land-scape. Its relatively flat terrain favours the operation of electric buses to run around 200km per day. Its counterpart, Hong Kong faces tremendous challenges to introduce electric buses, due to its hilly landscapes at urban fringes and subur-ban areas. Third, the operation of electric buses in Shenzhen has been backed up with advanced technologies and infra-structure. Its electric buses only need 2 hours overnight for complete charging to support its full daily operations of run-ning around 200km per day. Together with the full fleet of 13,000 electric taxis in town in 2020, the number of charging piles in Shenzhen has already soared to more than 40,000 by the end of 2017.

While Shenzhen has secured a front seat to adopt a full fleet of electric bus-es, China in general has accelerated its

drive to replace diesel vehicles with elec-tric vehicles. In fact, among the existing 350,000 electric buses in the world, more than 90% of the fleet actually comes from China. Thanks to the central gov-ernment’s ambitious policy framework “Made in China 2025”, 30 Chinese cit-ies such as Guangzhou and Hangzhou are expected to achieve a full electric bus fleet by the end of next year.

Other cities have been following the footsteps of China to promote electric vehicles. London, United Kingdom is expected to achieve an emission-free single-decker bus fleet by 2020. The existing diesel double-decker bus fleet would be fully replaced with hybrid fu-els by the end of this year. New York, USA is revitalising its bus fleet to make

all buses running electric by 2040.

Author: LAU Chun Ki, Josh

WIT Representative

Source(s):

1. Keagen, M. (2018, December 12). Shen-

zhen’s silent revolution: world’s first

fully electric bus fleet quietens Chinese

megacity. The Guardian. Retrieved

February 4, 2019 from

2. https://www.theguardian.com/cit-

ies/2018/dec/12/silence-shenzhen-

world-first-electric-bus-fleet

3. Ren, D. (2018, December 12). Shenz-

hen’s all-electric bus fleet is a world’s

first that comes with massive govern-

ment funding. South China Morning

Post. Retrieved February 4, 2019 from

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-

business/article/2169709/shenzhens-all-

electric-bus-fleet-worlds-first-comes-

massive

4. Nylander, J. (2018, December 12).

Dirty cousin? Not anymore as Shenz-

hen’s green quest leaves Hong Kong

miles behind. South China Morning

Post. Retrieved February 5, 2019 from

https://www.scmp.com/business/arti-

cle/2150718/dirty-cousin-not-anymore-

shenzhens-green-quest-leaves-hong-

kong-miles.

World Ecology ReportWorld Information Transfer

Spring 201914

realm as well as globally, women hold only 23.7% of parliamentary seats [6]. Of the 193 Member States, only Rwanda and the Plurinational State of Bolivia have a majority of females in parliament at 61% and 53% retrospectively. Other positions influencing decision making power within government, large enter-prises, and institutions also continue to be underrepresented. The propor-tion of women in senior and middle management remains below 50% in all countries except the Dominican Repub-lic, where it has reached 53%. Despite women showing they are ready and able to increase their presence in public life, attempts to participate are stymied by threats and attacks, persistent sexual harassment, and online abuse.

There is no comprehensive global database on laws regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights. Data is limited on women’s autonomy in decision-making regarding sexual re-

World Information Transfer (WIT)

28Th International ConferenceThe 28th International Conference

on Health and Environment: Global Partners for Global Solutions

Title: “Attaining The Sustainable Development Goals: Chornobyl at 33”

Organized by World Information Transfer, Inc., Co-sponsored by the Government of Ukraine. Dates: April 26th, 2019, Location: United Nations Headquarters, Time: 10:00am - 1:00 pm. PLEASE REGISTER AT EVENT-

BRITE to attend the Conference: eventbrite.com/o/world-information-transfer-8027525061

CSW63 2019The sixty-third session of the Com-

mission on the Status of Women will take place at the United Nations Head-quarters in New York from 11 to 22 March 2019.

Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredit-ed non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world are expected to attend the session.

52nd session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD 52)The 52nd session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD 52) will take place from 1 to 5 April 2019 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Special Theme: Review and apprais-al of the Programme of Action of the

International Conference on Population and Development and its contribution to the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Review of relevant United Nations plans and programmes of action:

1. International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action;

2. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable De-velopment;

3. For more information on this session, please visit the CPD52 website;

4. For more information on NGO participation, please visit CPD52 NGO information page.

Population Reference

Bureau (PRB)The world population will reach 9.9

billion by 2050, up 2.3 billion or 29 per-cent from an estimated 7.6 billion peo-ple now, according to projections by the 2018 World Population Data SheetSource: communications@prb.org

productive health. Only 52% of women married can freely make their own deci-sion about sexual relations, contraceptive use, and health care [7] . Girls in adoles-cence experience additional limitations. High costs often hamper women’s access to healthcare. This was the case for 86% of women in Sāo Tomé and Principé [8]. Women with access to family plan-ning experience lower pregnancy-related mortality rates, higher child health, and lower rates of HIV transmission as well as reduced poverty, better education and a higher gender equality.

While the state of gender equal-ity is unsettling, there is hope. The 2030 Agenda recognizes that there can be no sustainable development without equal-ity. This means that all 193 UN Member States have agreed to strive for a more equal world and to take the steps needed to achieve progress. The UN Women’s Re-port on 2030 Agenda introduces a way to measure the SDG in terms of gender such as gender-statistics and gender-specific

indicators. Unlike the MDG, the SDG include indicators such as 5.c.1 (adopt and strengthen sound policies and en-forceable legislation) to monitor gender framework linked to national budgeting systems alongside implementation of leg-islation and policies for gender equality and women’s empowerment. A hallmark of the 2030 Agenda is that it includes all countries, peoples, and segments of soci-ety while promising to address the needs of those most disadvantaged. Through this all-encompassing implementation, the 2030 Agenda makes gender inequali-ty a key focus across the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social, and environmental.

Author: Ariel Granat. WIT RepresentativeBiblography: [1] UN HRC 2014d. [2] UNSD 2017 a. [3] World Bank 2015;UNSD 2017. [4] USAID 2015; Morris 2016. [5] UN Women Analysis based of latest available DHS for 65 countries, [6] IPU 2017 a. [7] WHO 2014a. [8] Based on latest ILOSTAT data (2009-2016) for 75 count

Continued from page 16

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World Information Transfer, Inc., (WIT) is a not-for-profit, non-govern-mental organization in General Consultative Status with the United Na-tions, promoting environmental health and literacy. In 1987, inspired by the Chornobyl (Ukrainian spelling) nuclear tragedy, in Ukraine, WIT was formed in recognition of the pressing need to provide accurate ac-tionable information about our deteriorating global environment and its effect on human health. WIT exercises its mandate through:

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• Internship. World Information Transfer (WIT) offers internships in New York City. Our goal is to assist future leaders understand what the world needs to be sustainable, encouraging them to learn about health and environment issues. Our interns spend the majority of their time at the United Nations Headquarters. There are 3 sessions, fall, spring and summer - all require applications.

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• www.worldinfo.org WIT provides, through its website, science based information on the relationship between human health and the nat-ural environment, including the papers from the WIT’s annual confer-ences, the archived World Ecology Reports, and our new Speaker’s Series.

World Information Transfer is a Non-Profit, 501(c)3,Non-Governmental Organization in General Consultative Status with the United Nations, Promoting Health and Environmental Literacy.

Board of DirectorsDr. Christine K. Durbak, CHAIR & CEORoland DeSilvaEXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRDr. Claudia Strauss VICE CHAIRApurv GuptaSECRETARYArnaud LaFlecheTREASURERMariam AzarmHon. Carolyn T. Comitta Cary GranatDr. Bernard D.GoldsteinAmb. Valeriy KuchinskyDr. Brian LandzbergDr. Patricia MyskowskiDr. Scott RatzanDr. Mark RobsonDr. William N. RomAmb. Yuriy SergeyevRichard Whiteford

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s

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MARGARET MEAD

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The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes gender equality and women’s empowerment as “a crucial con-tribution to progress across all goals and targets” . Sustainable Development Goal 5 – Gender Equality – strives to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” with 9 targets and 14 gender-specific indicators. The SDGs build on prior commitments and norms established in the Beijing Dec-laration and Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), as well as its predecessor the Millennium Develop-ment Goals, to establish a clear framework for gender equality. To ensure successful implementation, UN Women released its SDG Monitoring Report “Turning Promises Into Action” as guidance for Member States to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda with regard to gender equality.

Despite the global advancement of women and girls in soci-ety, progress toward gender equality remains slow. Women and girls continue to experience inequalities of all kinds, including discrimination based on sex, age, class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and migration status. Different societal fundamentalisms have formed unconscious biases and implicit associations that create unintended invisible barriers to equal opportunity. The findings of “Turning Promises into Action” best illustrate these barriers through the categories of violence against women and girls (VAWG), social/economic discrimination, and reproductive care.

The adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action in 1993 established VAWG as “a manifestation of his-torically unequal power relations between men and wom-en.”[1] Thus, VAWG is recognized by UN Member States as a systematic form of discrimination against women rather than a series of individual instances. Yet, the UN Women’s 2030 re-port shows VAWG continues to be one of the most widespread human rights abuses in the world today. In 2018 alone, 1 in 5 women and girls aged 15-49 reported experiencing physi-cal and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner. The region of Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand) surpassed

the global average by about 2x, with 39.6% of women and girls reporting intimate partner violence [2]. Discriminatory laws and legislative provisions remain in place in many countries undeterred by VAWG. Data from 2018 shows that 49 countries lack laws protecting women from domestic violence and in 37 countries, rape perpetrators are exempt from prosecution if they are married to or subsequently marry the victim [3]. Al-though data has shown that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has no health benefits and continues to harm girls and women in many ways, FGM continues to be associated with cultural ideals of femininity and modesty. It is estimated that 200 mil-lion women and girls in 30 countries have undergone FGM. Currently, Djibouti, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan have the highest prevalence rates of FGM in the world – with greater than 85% of women aged 20-24 reporting FGM. If these trends continue, rates of FGM are predicted to increase over the next 15 years. However, developing countries are not the only actors affected by VAWG. In the United States, 23% of female undergraduates reported having experienced sexual as-sault or sexual misconduct in 2018.

Socio-economic and political barriers also contribute to preventing women and girls from achieving their potential. The global gender pay gap remains at 23% even though girls are doing increasingly better in school and university than boys. According to the 2030 UN Women Report, it will take another 68 years to achieve equal pay without decisive action. Data on women’s role in the agricultural sector point to simi-lar deep inequalities [4]. Globally, only 12.8% of women are agricultural land holders. In Saudi Arabia, only .8% of women are agricultural and land owners [5]. Land is a key economic resource that is linked to access, use of, and control over other economic and productive resources. The restricted access of economic resources such as land prevent women from gener-ating individual income, preventing many women from being able to provide adequate support for themselves and their fami-lies. Women continue to be underrepresented in the political

POINT OF VIEWGender Equality: Key Catalyst for Sustainable Development

Continued on page 14