Category Archives: Resource Based Economy

By S. Thanigaseelan and Dr. K.A. Thulitha Wickrama

In an environment of financial unavailability, microfinance is a mechanism that can be used to uplift the people of post-war regions in Sri Lanka (Rathiranee & Semasinghe, 2012). Taking a page from the successful experiences of impoverished areas and families in the deep south (Galle, Matara, and Hambantota), some of the innovative Grameen banking and other micro credit methods they have successfully employed can also be applied here.

As the background for the need of lending institutions are identical in both regions (post-war areas in the north and east compared with poverty-stricken regions of the south), a comparison justifies a similar intervention.

Similarly, people are disadvantaged through the lack of facilities, resources, support, alienation, marginalisation, and social exclusion. As the basic needs of post-war north/east and rural south are the same housing, material goods, living expenses, health and security and with a view to enhancing their overall quality of life, micro-credit organisations are theoretically justifiable and practically already shown to have benefits for both regions.

In regions of extreme poverty and need, they stand as success stories of the movement started by Mohammad Yunas, the Grameen Bank guru to international development.

Various success stories abound, especially in regions with active rural development and poverty reduction programs through both Non-Governmental and Governmental Organisations. One such is the Grameen Bank-modelled credit organisation established in the Hambantota District (headed by GA Mithrerathne) to alleviate womens poverty and empower them through financial self-reliance.

Established in the mid-1980s, this program is still ongoing today. The womens self-help organisation in Hambantota was especially significant in the post-tsunami financial recovery of families. Similarly, the devastated post-war families are again experiencing even more desperate and needy circumstances.

While the tsunami region had the task of restarting already established businesses, the post-war region has the task of starting and developing businesses that never existed before at a level that can generate income.

Another program started under the stewardship of one of the co-authors (Wijaya Wickramaratne) over a decade ago is still ongoing today and serves over 2000 families as a Grameen Bank-based revolving credit society.

Showing the flexible and multifunctioning nature of credit organisations, this group not only initially gave each other loans for small businesses and housing development but later started organisation that owned and controlled businesses such as a cinnamon oil factory. Sanasa Bank and NDB Bank among many other private and public financial organisations have successfully engaged in this business over the years.

Micro credit facilities and organisations are not only financial but also social service organisations. In addition to the direct economic benefits for women, their quality of life improves through the impact their financial power has on their marital dynamics, resource acquisition, gaining skills and social status.

The evaluation of micro credit involvement among women shows that, due to these beneficial effects, women have clearly gained marital and community power, although poverty alleviation was still elusive. While escape from poverty may not be possible, it has shown significant financial benefits for associated families.

Programs especially showing success with women are crucial, as the population of greatest need in the post-war regions are women-headed households. With over 7,000 such families recorded in Kilinochchi District alone, the need for such micro credit organisations to bridge the gap between poverty and entrepreneur development is essential.

As they prefer self-employment and their biggest concern is lack of credit, intervening with micro credit organisations is a good fit. Moreover, there will be trickle down effects on the local economy, such as its impact on the high unemployment rates in post-war regions of Sri Lanka.

The focus group interviews of single women headed households clearly indicated their frustration at being isolated from banking facilities, business knowledge, supply chain, inefficient public sector and a clear lack of interest to engage with them from the private sector. Ironically, they themselves soundly stated the superior production capacity in their region in the daily and fisheries activities.

The discussion groups were clearly articulating the need to add value to their abundant raw produce and the need to find the most lucrative markets for their products. Again expressing their frustrations, the participants mentioned the lack of knowledge, facilities, and formal or informal social networks for them to accomplish these necessary next steps to grow their small businesses.

To quantitatively explore these financial needs expressed in the qualitative focus groups, the National Human Resource Development Council of Sri Lanka (NHRDC) conducted a census of the most needy families in the post war regionabout 7,000 single-women-headed households.

Kilinochchi region and its people

Kilinochchi is not only a district affected by the recently concluded war, but also one affected by the 2004 tsunami. Previous studies have identified basic experiences of area residents related to water, sanitation, technology, facilities, schools and personal hygiene.

While these were critical aspects, no previous study has conducted a comprehensive assessment of factors that impact the influencing mechanisms behind income and employment needs of the most underprivileged segment of the population in Kilinochchi single mother-headed families.

Such post-war areas of Sri Lanka are desperately poor due to disadvantaged social and economic circumstances. Socially disadvantaged families such as those in financial strain, those with less parenting support (e.g. single parent), families with lower level of educating, lower parenting skills, individuals with mental illnesses, those that lack social support or formal and an informal community network, and individuals specially in the developing work context suffer greater daily strains and stressful events.

The need to improve the lives of youth and adults that live under these disadvantaged conditions because of the risks to their health (behavioural, physical and mental), livelihood, career, trainings, and academic achievements, and the ability to live productive lives.

These families are economically disadvantaged with no business opportunities, credit facilities, banking facilities, lenders or access to markets, and are consequently left out of the supply chain and forgotten by investors and business opportunists.

Sample description

We administered in-person quantitative questionnaires to participants as follows: Poonakary DS division 953 and Pallai DS division 722.

In the Karachchi DS division we sampled 3,399 individuals (3,144 widows and 255 parentless households), while in the Kandawalai DS division we sampled 1,341 individuals (1,188 widows and 153 parentless households).

Individual interviews were also conducted with politicians, INGOs, NGOs, departments, CBOs, business persons, and religious leaders. As described previously, focus group interviews were conducted with widows and women in general. Of these, 86 interviewers were trained in Pallai and Poonakary in order to conduct this study.

Results of the survey questionnaire relevant to microfinance

Most engage in traditional agricultural and fishery industries; producing dairy or fish, as self-employment is the only practical option for most due to the lack of alternative employment and the availability of agricultural and fisheries resources.

They do not profit much from this work, as they are not knowledgeable in ways to add value to their products, have no facilities to do so, are unable to take their products to the market, and have no facilities to store, pack and fulfil other product-related needs. They sell their produce at far below market prices, often to a single vendor.

If they produce 100 litres of milk per day, they sell it for Rs. 49 a bottle to this single vendor, who in turn sells it for Rs. 60 a bottle in Batticaloa. As well as dairy work, many are also engaged in paddy cultivation, and repeatedly express their desire for training to conduct integrated farming. Other obstacles to financial wellbeing are transport and the lack of employment opportunities.

Moreover, it was impractical for these single parent families to leave their children unattended to go looking for work or conduct business activities away from home. There is distrust of the outside in sending their children to far away schools for higher studies.

Most of them are not interested in getting a vocational training mainly because the course schedules will interfere with their daily wage earning work; even if they were aware of its importance, divisions such as these still lack such institutions, and there is also lack of confidence in finding employment even after training at these institutions.

Many with previous vocational training need facilities and equipment to conduct their businesses. Many do not have the money to follow training courses that may develop their entrepreneur skills and are held back by family burdens. Related to the general area of finance is the fact that most of those engaged in labour do not have skills to manage the wages they earn (Rs. 1,000 per day).

Ways micro-financing can intervene

Due to the lack of employment opportunities, many in this post-war region have turned to self-employment as their preferred option. Microfinance can intervene as a stepping stone to facilitate this. Financing groups can be established by womens and mens rural development societies with a built-in monitoring system of borrowers.

Low interest loans for investments can be provided for promising members of a community. Assistance can be given to interested communities in order to organise themselves into financial self-help groups.

Compared to other regions that have used micro-financing with mixed success to due misusing of funds by powerful members of a community, the members of post war regions are equally powerless and need financial help from self-help credit organisations.

In forming micro credit organisations, post-war regions need special assistance due to the lack any prior experience in such activities. In doing so, they must be encouraged to co-ordinate their activities with a Divisional Secretariat (DS) and the local Grama Niladhari (GN) to avoid duplications and to locate the community members most in need of assistance.

Assessments of community members needs must be conducted with the assistance of the GN prior to awarding credit. Thus, the DS can help identify the communities while the GN can help select the individuals within them. An organisation that can act as guarantors and require no collateral is a welcome relief for individuals overwhelmed by their inexperience and severe vulnerability in the post-war regions of Sri Lanka.

The benefits of micro-financing are numerous for these poor communities. Firstly, subsistence-level entrepreneurs will be able make networks with other public and private organisations to grow their businesses in innovative directions and more profitable levels.

Secondly, these beneficiaries will use their existing resources to reap multiple benefits from previously profitable activities. Third, employment will be created through the beneficiaries successful business activities. And lastly, these to immediate and long-term economic and social benefits will create a higher quality of life and standard of living for their families.

(S. Thanigaseelan is the Assistant Director of NHRDC and Dr. K.A. Thulitha Wickrama holds a PhD in Human Development and Family Studies.)

Link:

Micro-financing as a solution to uplifting lives of families in post-war Sri Lanka - ft.lk

VANCOUVER, B.C. The results are in for the inaugural BC Natural Resources Survey conducted by the BC Chamber of Commerce, C3 Alliance Corp., and research company Abacus Data.

According to the survey, one of the key findings is that British Columbians recognize the integral role natural resources play in driving the provincial economy and support increased investment in the sector to encourage sustainable resource development.

The on-line survey was offered from November 14, 2019, to January 10, 2020, using the BC Chambers business insight platform BCMindreader.com The survey was designed to gauge public perceptions on natural resource development, growth prospects for various business sectors, obstacles holding back resource expansion and ideas for sustainable development, among other issues.

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According to the BC Chamber, more than 1,000 individuals responded to the survey, representing a broad cross-section of British Columbians comprising a healthy mix of income and education levels, geographic regions, and spanning diverse political affiliations. Half of respondents had no ties to the resource sector, while the other half either worked in natural resources or had a family member or acquaintance affiliated with the sector.

Among the survey findings:

We undertook this research project to get a better sense of how British Columbians felt about the provinces economic drivers, saidSarah Weber, President and CEO, C3 Alliance Corp. Clearly, BC residents understand the important contribution of natural resources to their economic well being. Even among individuals who are not connected to the sector, theres a deep appreciation for the role natural resources play in driving BCs prosperity.

What were seeing is broad-based support for responsible resource development by British Columbians, saidVal Litwin, President and CEO of the BC Chamber of Commerce. BCs reliance on clean hydroelectricity gives our resource sector a distinct low-carbon advantage compared to other international jurisdictions. This is a key selling point that we should be marketing aggressively to help grow our economic base.

The Chamber goes on to share, the majority of respondents are proud of BCs natural resource sector, acknowledging that participating companies offer well-paying, highly skilled jobs, are environmentally thoughtful, well run, technologically advanced and innovative. Sixty-five percent of British Columbians said they would encourage young people to work in natural resources.

British Columbians believe measures must be taken to improve economic prospects for the natural resources industry including; promoting innovation, positioning BC as a leader in low-carbon resource products and identifying and building markets for sustainably produced products.

To access the full survey report, CLICK HERE

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Survey results are in from a Resource sector based survey - Energeticcity.ca

Opinion | Guest ColumnMining executives should not be able to profit from new ventures while Montanans are still dealing with their past messes

By Bonnie Gestring and Karen Knudsen // Jan 22, 2020

The Beal Mountain Mine is a leaky and defunct cyanide-leach gold mine perched above a possibly unstable fault on public lands in the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest near Anaconda. In December, the U.S. Forest Service hosted a public meeting on cleanup efforts at the mine.

The site receives a huge amount of snow, and each year when that snow melts, water seeps through giant piles of mine waste and becomes contaminated with arsenic, selenium and cyanide. The water treatment building has been vandalized, overcome with mold, and struck by lightning. It needs to be replaced.

The Forest Service spends about $300,000 a year in public funds to collect and treat the highly contaminated water before it reaches the upper Clark Fork River. More than $15 million has been spent to date, with no end in sight: the site will require water treatment for the foreseeable future. Fixing the overarching problems that plague this mine will require even more money. While the Forest Service is doing good work in its efforts to manage this mess, every year seems to bring a new set of challenges.

Why are taxpayers footing the bill, you ask? Because Pegasus Gold went bankrupt and left taxpayers with the cleanup costs for Beal Mountain, along with the Zortman-Landusky and Basin Creek Mines. Cleanup at all three sites continues to this day at great public expense.

Nevertheless, now one of the former Pegasus Gold executives, Phillips S. Baker, wants to open two new mines under the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness with his new company, Hecla.

Fortunately, the state of Montana has taken enforcement action against the mining company under the states bad actor law. This law is simple: it holds corporations responsible for cleaning up after themselves. It prohibits mining executives whose companies failed to complete required mine reclamation from undertaking new mining projects in the state unless they rectify the mess and pay back the cleanup costs, with interest.

Letting the leadership of Pegasus profit from new mining projects in Montana while the public is still paying to clean up that companys old messes would be unfair and irresponsible. Its particularly inappropriate when the new plans threaten to dewater the wilderness rivers and streams that provide critical refuge to fish and wildlife and produce some of the purest water in the nation.

The environmental review of the two mines, released by the Forest Service, predicts that mining underneath the wilderness area will eliminate 97 to 100 percent of summer flows from overlying rivers and streams, effectively drying up important trout streams on a seasonal basis. Some of the worst effects are predicted to last for up to 1,300 years and will occur in the headwaters of the East Fork Bull River and East Fork Rock Creek the two most important bull trout recovery streams in the Lower Clark Fork, and a source of crystal-clear water to those that live downstream.

Given the science and history here, we cannot have faith that the Cabinet Mountains, and the mountains clean water and wildlife that are so critical to Montanas natural resource-based economy, will be protected.

Mining executives should not be able to profit from new ventures while Montanans are still dealing with their past messes. Lets hold mining executives responsible for their messes, and keep them away from our states greatest treasures.

Bonnie Gestring is the Northwest Program Director for Earthworks. Karen Knudsen is the Executive Director of the Clark Fork Coalition.

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The Ghost of Mining's Past Threatens Cabinet Mountains - Flathead Beacon

The World Bank has committed USD 570 Mn to, in part, help Ghana make Accra Africas cleanest city. USD 557 Mn of the fund is in credits while the remaining USD 13 Mn is in grants.

One of the projects that will be financed include the Greater Accra and Integrated Development (GARID) initiative. This is a USD 200 Mn multi-sector and transformative urban project tailored to bolster the city to become safer, more resilient and cleaner.

It is one of the promises of Akufo-Addos administration to make Accra the tidiest place on the continent. Logically, the ambition is to overtake Kigali and Cape Town, Africas cleanest urbanities as of present.

It was in in April 2017 that the president promised to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa by the end of his tenure in office. The ambitious pledge came in the face of worsening sanitation crisis in the nations capital, Accra, with city authorities struggling to deal with the situation.

Nevertheless, there have been reservations from the past that the goal will remain a pipe dream. These beliefs are valid on the grounds that the present regime is about to come to an end, and the title is yet to be sat on.

Ghanas general elections will be held towards the end of 2020, so its fair to say the financial aid could not have come at a better time. USD 150 Mn of the money will go into the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes project. The initiative is aimed at improving education in low-performing basic schools.

Not of of the fund is going into sweeping the streets of Accra. Another USD 200 Mn Ghana Economic Transformation Project will be financed. It is expected to promote private investment and firm growth in non-resource-based sectors of the countrys economy.

The fourth project being additional financing for the Ghana Forest Investment Programme Enhancing Natural Forest and Agroforest Landscapes Project, comes with a USD 12.4 Mn grant.

This week, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah, inaugurated a Special Task Force On Environmental Sanitation to work with the Ministry in attaining President Akufo-Addos vision of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa.

Featured Image: Agromoneta-Ghana

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Accra To Become The Cleanest City In Africa & The World Bank Aid - WeeTracker Media

Throughout the last decade (2010-2019), tropical deforestation escalated at an alarming rate despite a raft of international commitments, including the New York Declaration on Forests, the U.N. REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) agreement, the inclusion of forests in the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and the Aichi targets under the U.N. Convention on Biodiversity.

All of these agreements recognize the vital role forests play in climate change mitigation, but they have not reached their full potential due to weak commitments by governments who do not realize their potential as carbon sinks, according to forestry experts at Washington-based World Resources Institute (WRI) in a recent article summarizing a top 10 of big changes for forests over the past decade.

As a new decade begins, at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), we believe that green social and economic initiatives backed by sound government policies are key to spurring conservation and sustainable management of fragile forest and agroforestry ecosystems.

We must stop whittling away at our forests. They are central to biodiversity, water, the preservation of cultural values and the livelihoods of local and Indigenous communities.

FOREST LOSS

In 2016, 2017 and 2018, the three most recent years with available data, the world witnessed the highest rates of primary forest loss since the turn of the century, the WRI article says, pinpointing fires in Brazil for the spikes in 2016 and 2017.

Yet, as a nature-based climate solution, forests have the potential to contribute more than 30 percent of the mitigation action needed to keep global temperatures in check, studies show.

Unfortunately, a cavalier attitude toward forests prevails, despite the serious situation we confront.

The aim of the landmark 2015 U.N.Paris Agreementon climate change is to curb average temperatures and stop them from rising more than 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. Forests must be recognized in this context for the key role they play as carbon sinks.

The five warmest years on record have occurred since 2015 and nine of the 10 warmest years have occurred since 2005, according to the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Newly released data show that 2019 was the second hottest year after 2016 in 140 years of record-keeping. Temperatures last year were 1.15 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, NCEI said.

Fires worldwide and shoreline flooding have taken their toll on forests and communities, reducing their ability to withstand global warming and protect against it. Overall, between 2014 and 2018, the world lost 120 million hectares of tree cover, an area larger than Colombia, according to Global Forest Watch.

These facts are frightening, but there were signs throughout the decade that show we may yet be able to work our way out of this human-made crisis, generated in large measure by 20th century supply-and-demand style capitalist economics.

FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ALTERNATIVES

Throughout the teens, some entrepreneurs in the business community began to see the value of preventing biodiversity loss, climate change and environmental degradation.

The concept of the Green New Deal, which began to gain momentum in the early 2000s, gained political traction in the United States over the decade and the concept of an economic transformation away from a fossil fuel-based economy, bled into the mainstream.

On the other side of the Atlantic, in December, the European Union unveiled its European Green Deal Investment Plan, which is aimed at ensuring the continent is carbon neutral by 2050. Key components include mobilizing at least a trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) of sustainable investments over the next decade and increasing public and private spending on climate and environmental action.

Mark Carney, who recently becameU.N. special envoyfor climate action and finance after stepping down as governor of the Bank of England, said that British banks and insurers would have to conduct climate stress tests and reveal their exposure to the climate crisis and how they would manage a temperature increase of up to 4 degrees Celsius. As envoy for climate action, Carney will focus on mobilizing private finance to invest in initiatives to help meet the Paris Agreement.

Commodities markets are becoming more and more sensitive to consumer demand for sustainably produced goods, but prices will largely decide whether they are successful.

While initial enthusiasm for the creation of a carbon trading market under REDD+ petered out, research demonstrates that at the local level, many communities around the world are benefiting from related projects at the jurisdictional level. Former CIFOR Director General Frances Seymour, has declared that REDD+ is undergoing a renaissance as the number of payment-for-performance and bilateral agreements have grown.

As part of the transition to a green economy, policymakers must begin to establish the parameters for the potential role that forests can play in the circular bioeconomy, which can help achieve SDG targets. We must increase the role of wood-based products, replacing what we can of the fossil-fuel based economy.

The emissions associated with any given product should account for all stages of production, use and end of life. For each ton of wood that replaces concrete, the CO2 emissions could be significantly reduced,according toPekka Leskinen, head of the Bioeconomy Program atthe European Forest Institute(EFI).

The use of wood-based fibers in the textile industry could also lead to a substantial carbon reduction compared with synthetics. Many studies indicate that the use of wood and wood-based products is associated with lower fossil and process-based emissions when compared to non-wood products.

While the relative pros and cons must be weighed to determine what proportion of biomass better serves sustainability by being left in the forest and contributing to local ecosystem services, we would be well on the road to economic transformation if we were to begin to sort this out.

A soon-to-be-published synthesis by CIFOR and EFI dips into details of the relative benefits of a bioeconomy, illustrating that the construction sector, dominated by carbon intense, non-renewable concrete and steel, could be transformed and become more sustainable through the use of wood. It shows that substituting non-wood products with wood has the potential to achieve average emissions reductions of 1.3 to 1.6 times.

Forests, sustainable forest management and forest-based solutions offer potential to catalyze such a transformation They can advance the bioeconomy while enhancing biodiversity and supporting wealth creation in rural and urban areas. Such materials as concrete, steel, plastics and synthetic textiles must be replaced by fossil free and renewable materials. In this context, wood, the most versatile renewable material on earth, will be central. Sustainable wood-based solutions are fundamental.

While the most immediate goal for a sustainable future and climate change mitigation is to reduce consumption and emissions, it is also crucial to begin using wood more efficiently for purposes in which wood has a comparative advantage from sustainability and circular economy perspectives.

CIFOR is working with EFI and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) to try and coordinate forest-related polices that could help achieve the targets of the Paris Agreement and the SDGs. To this end, the directors of the three organizations published an open letter to heads of state urging they convene an Earth Forest Summit.

RESTORATION IS VITAL

A key component of economic transformation, the groundwork for a U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 led by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), with partners Global Landscapes Forum, International Union for Conservation of Nature and the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe was formally announced in September at the U.N Secretary Generals Climate Action Summit in New York.

The initiative recognizes that restoration and other natural options could contributemore than a thirdof the solution to the climate crisis, aims to clean up and restore land and waterways on a massive scale, providing an urgently needed buffer against global warming. It aims to pull together all stakeholders from all sectors to create a dialogue and act on restoration.

A major focus in the 2020s must be on preserving primary forests, while restoring secondary forests and degraded land to plantations, agroforestry and bioenergy use wherever it makes ecological and economic sense.

About 12 million hectares of land are lost each year to degradation, harming the wellbeing of more than 3 billion people. This costs more than 10 percent of annual global gross domestic product in lost ecosystem services. We must restore at least 12 million hectares annually simply to reach land degradation neutrality. Given the high cost of restoration, it must become an economic activity and financially attractive to investors and governments.

Additionally, the value of ecosystem services lost annually to degradation is estimated at $6.3 trillion. But achieving restoration at scale through an instrument such as the Bonn Challenge a commitment to restore 150 million hectares of land by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030 under the New York Declaration on Forests could result in trillions in net benefit and a significant return on investments. Restoring degraded forests generates an estimated $7 to $30 in economic benefits for every dollar invested.

While this will not be an easy task, new technologies developed over the past decade offer great strategic potential. Remote sensing and drones have made data collection a standard first step in many research efforts with a geospatial component.

New satellites equipped with radar and high-resolution sensors will help offset the handicap of heavy cloud cover and enable more detailed approaches to quantify ecosystem degradation and carbon measuring, WRIs Rod Taylor writes, at the same time pointing out that effective biodiversity loss monitoring is still elusive.

CIFOR aims to be at the forefront of technological innovation.

INCREASING PRESSURES

According to the United Nations, the global population hit 7 billion in 2011, and is currently about 7.6 billion.

The U.N. refugee agency says that the world is witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record, reporting that an unprecedented 70.8 million people around the world have been forced from home. Worldwide there are nearly 25.9 million refugees, over half under the age of 18.

In 2015, 244 million people, or 3.3 per cent of the worlds population, lived outside their country of origin, most crossing borders hoping to find better economic and social opportunities, while others have fled crises. Internal migration within countries is also growing.

Dramatic images of refugees adrift in overcrowded boats or in some cases lifeless and washed up on shorelines, were a shocking reminder of the dire straits some people face, at times due to resource depletion caused by land degradation and climate change.

These mass movements of humanity demand greater research to understand the consequences for landscapes.

For example, refugee camps provide crucial safe zones for displaced people fleeing danger, but resource scarcity can lead to land degradation. More than1.2 million refugeeshave found asylum in Uganda, the majority fleeing conflict in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past three years. This has put a strain on humanitarian resources and the environment.

Lalisa Duguma, a climate change researcher at ICRAF, recognized the need to develop ecosystem and landscape management in the camps. He worked with team of researchers to lead the development of a tree nurserywhich they say has so far produced over 170,000 seedlingstree planting, and maintenance, among other activities.

Internal migration poses its own challenges. It can also lead to ecosystem degradation and disputes over land. Research led by Peter Cronkleton, an anthropologist with CIFOR, demonstrates that understanding the impact of migratory communities is vital.

For example, the government of Peru often states that approximately 80 percent of deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon is driven by migratory agriculture from the high Andes, but Cronkletons research revealed that most migrants were actually from the area. He observed that migrants moved into land they perceived as being unused and available for settlement.

These lands were usually forests cleared by settlers for agricultural use. Gradually, infrastructure followed as state agencies moved in to provide services, build schools, roads and bridges. In some instances, property rights were also formalized, but only in places where the land had been deforested.

Spontaneous migration into forests, followed by the construction of government-supported infrastructure and property rights for settlers that cleared forest, reveal how cross-sectoral policies have a greater impact on deforestation than the people occupying the landscape, Cronkleton said.

Time and time again, research demonstrates that the best land managers are Indigenous and local communities.

Close to 1.6 billion people rely on forest resources for their livelihoods and most of them, 1.2 billion people, use trees on farms to generate food and cash, according to FAO, but many have been pushed off traditional lands to make way for massive resource extraction projects without consultation, or in spite of it.

Children living in areas of Africa with high tree cover tend to have more nutritious diets, adding support to research showing that forests play a key role in human health and food security.

Our research shows that children in Africa living in communities surrounded by good forest cover have higher dietary diversity and more fruit and vegetable consumption, said Amy Ickowitz, an economist with CIFOR. In these areas, dietary diversity increases with tree cover, suggesting that in heavily treed areas, children have healthier diets.

More than 36 percent of the worlds remaining intact forested landscapes are on Indigenous Peoples lands, recent research by CIFOR associate scientist John Fa shows. Some 370 million people worldwide identify as Indigenous due to their descent from populations who inhabited a country before the time of conquest or colonization and who retain at least some of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, manage or have land tenure rights over 25 percent of the worlds land surface.

HIGH STAKES

The threats are real for people who stand up to protect their lands. Rights watchdog Global Witness found thatmore than 1,700 environmental and land defendershave been killed this century, with an average ofmore than three murdered each week in 2018, reports WRIs Jessica Web, adding that about25 to 40 percent are indigenous peoples, although they make up only 5 percent of the worlds population.

The tide of public opinion is changing with greater concern for the impacts that deforestation has on Indigenous communities, Web says. We should also expect donor agencies, NGOs and international institutions to continue allocating resources to support Indigenous interests.

While this may be true, we must work harder to support Indigenous Peoples.

In 2019, we saw representatives from all major faith traditions with a following of more than a billion people worldwide, commit to ending tropical deforestation through the Faiths for Forests Declaration and Action Agenda. They also pledged to stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples facing threats to their traditional lands.

UNEPannouncedthe newFaiths for Forestscampaign, an initiative of the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative(IRI). It led to the formation of the multi-faith IRI in 2017, two years after Pope Francis shared his fears about the impact of human activities on the environment, climate and rainforests in a major encyclical titledLaudato Si(Praise Be) in 2015.

While political support exists in some quarters, we face an uphill battle to challenge negative political leadership on environmental topics, which has had a profound effect.

For example, in 2017, President Donald Trump served notice that the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate accord. In 2019, like-minded President Jair Bolsonaro took office in Brazil, which put forests and Indigenous communities at risk.

As George Marshall, founder of Climate Outreach, points out, under Article 12 of the Paris Agreement, governments made a commitment to inform their citizens about climate change, a contract many have failed to keep.

Marshall also says that mainstream news media bear responsibility for downplaying the threat of climate change by often placing the views of climate scientists next to those of climate change deniers, as if this were a balanced debate.

ACTIVISM ACCELERATES

In 2018, the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees was released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It exacerbated fears throughout the environmental community and significantly beyond that temperatures may become an average of1.5 degrees Celsius warmer in the next 11 years with catastrophic consequences for the planet.

After the release of the report, climate change became a developing news story for mainstream news organizations.

The media can start with writing about it (climate change) all the time, every headline, every frontpage because this is too important, we dont realize how important this is, said teen activist Greta Thunberg, at the 2018 COP 24 climate talks. Thunberg became internationally recognized as a celebrity youth leader after establishing a Friday sit-in, known as a climate strike, which took off with youth worldwide.

Some six months after COP 24, in May 2019, Britains Guardian newspaper changed its official editorial style guide, opting to prioritize the use of such terms as climate emergency instead of climate change and global heating instead of global warming, citing Thunberg, who in December was named Time magazines 2019 Person of the Year, as an influence.

Despite the momentum, COP 25 climate talks at the end of the decade were a big disappointment. After two days of extra efforts, negotiators failed to clinch an agreement on the mechanism to govern carbon trading, which would have finalized the Paris Agreement rulebook.

This week, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Britains heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles continued his efforts as an advocate for nature and the environment when he launched his Sustainable Markets Initiative.

Nature is not a separate asset class, nature is in fact the lifeblood of our financial markets we must rapidly realign our own economy to mimic natures economy and work in harmony with it, he said.

In this decade, both nature and forests must find a place at the table because to cite a quote from an Indigenous leader at GLF if you are not sitting at the table, you quickly become part of the menu.

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So long tumultuous teens: High hopes for forests in the 2020s - Forests News, Center for International Forestry Research

In a public letter to all company stakeholders, CEO Kevin Johnson sets 2030 science-based targets for carbon, water and waste as part of a multi-decade aspiration.

Hot on the heels of a similarly groundbreaking, industry-leading announcementlast week fromMicrosoft,Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson outlined today, ina publicletter,a multi-decade commitment to become a resource-positive company aspiring togive more than it takes from the planet. The announcement included science-basedpreliminary targets for the reduction of carbon emissions, water use and wasteby 2030; and outlined five strategies the company has identified to move towardthem.

As we approach the 50thanniversary of Starbucks in 2021, we are looking aheadwith a heightened sense of urgency and conviction that we must challengeourselves, think bigger and do much more in partnership with others to take careof the planet we share, Johnson said.

Our aspiration is to become resource positive storing more carbon than weemit, eliminating waste; and providing more clean, fresh water than we use.This aspiration is grounded in Starbucks mission. By embracing alonger-term economic, equitable and planetary-value proposition for ourcompany, we will create greater value for all stakeholders.

With the help of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Quantis, acomprehensive, data-driven environmental footprint of carbon emissions, wateruse and waste in Starbucks global operations and supply chain informed the fivestrategies to prioritize work:

Hear insights from a variety of field experts and practitioners on the myriad benefits of a world devoted to regenerative sourcing practices June 1-4 at SB'20 Long Beach.

Expanding plant-basedoptions,migrating toward a more environmentally friendly menu.

Shifting from single-use to reusable packaging a transition its alreadybegun through its fueling of Closed Loop Partners NextGen CupChallenge.

Investing in innovative and regenerative agriculturalpractices,reforestation, forest conservation and water replenishment throughout itssupply chain.

Investing in better ways to manage waste both in Starbucks stores and inits communities to ensure more reuse, recycling and elimination of foodwaste.

Innovating to develop more sustainable stores, operations, manufacturing anddelivery.

Johnson also outlined three preliminary targets for 2030:

A 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions in Starbucks direct operationsand supply chain.

50 percent of water withdrawal for direct operations and coffee productionwill be conserved or replenished with a focus on communities and basins withhigh water risk.

A 50 percent reduction in waste sent to landfill from stores andmanufacturing, driven by a broader shift toward a circular economy. Tounderscore its commitment to a circular economy, Starbucks has signed ontotheEllen MacArthur Foundations New Plastics Economy GlobalCommitment,setting ambitious circular targets for its packaging.

On Starbucks 50thanniversary in 2021, the company will formalize its 2030environmental goals based on learnings between now and then. Specifically,Johnson noted, the coming year will involve comprehensive market research andtrials to better understand consumer behavior and incentives to encourage moreuse of reusable containers.

Johnson noted the importance of Starbucks partnerships with others on itsjourney to be a more sustainable company. Advisors to the company have providedthe following comments:

Sheila Bonini, SVP of Private Sector Engagement at WWF, said:Asthe global climate crisis is fueling a new set of challenges for the planet,Starbucks has set an ambitious vision to give more than they take from ourplanets finite natural resources. This is exactly the kind of leadership weneed to see from businesses an opportunity to invest in their own future whilemaking their global customer base a partner in this sustainability journey.

Sander Defruyt, Lead of the New Plastics Economy initiative at the EllenMacArthur Foundation, said:The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment unitesbusinesses, governments and others behind a clear vision for a world whereplastic never becomes waste or pollution, and the ambitious targets required toachieve it. Creating this circular economy for plastic will be a challengingjourney, but by signing the Global Commitment, Starbucks is joining forces withmore than 450 signatories to make it possible. We urge others to join them. Bycoming together, we can eliminate the plastics we dont need and innovate, sothe plastics we do need can be safely and easily circulated, keeping them in theeconomy and out of the environment.

Mark Lee, Executive Director at SustainAbility, said: It isencouraging to see Starbucks embrace a data-driven and team-driven approach tocreating a resource-positive future. Given their proven ability to tap into thepassion and expertise of their partners around the globe, I am confident thatthey will succeed and that this will have a huge impact. Starbuckssustainability commitment is deeply embedded in their enterprise-wide strategiesand in the hearts and minds of their leaders. Their most senior leadership wasdirectly involved in the creation of this plan, and they did an outstanding jobconvening experts in the field in the course of its development, inviting themto help Starbucks dream big on whats possible for the planet. This putsStarbucks in the vanguard of corporate sustainability leaders, and we hope morebusinesses will be inspired to develop similarly robust approaches to addressingthe worlds most pressing sustainability challenges.

Published Jan 21, 2020 1pm EST / 10am PST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET

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Starbucks Commits to a Resource-Positive Future, Giving More than It Takes from the Planet - Sustainable Brands

Indonesia is planning to establish a sovereign wealth fund to fund the countrys development projects following investment interest expressed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States, among others.

The funds establishment is to be regulated by an anticipated omnibus bill on job creation, which has been drafted by the government and is expected to be submitted to the House of Representatives this week. The bill is seen as essential to support the governments efforts to attract investments to the country to help fuel the sluggish economic growth.

In a statement on Jan. 13, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the UAE, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group and the US International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) were among the investors in the sovereign wealth fund. He said the possibility for other potential parties to join the fund was still open.

The UAE government has prepared US$6.8 billion to invest in Indonesias development projects through a sovereign wealth fund, while the IDFC has pledged to invest $5.5 billion in Indonesia. SoftBank Group, meanwhile, has offered up to $40 billion to invest in the development of the countrys new capital city.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo said previously that the planned sovereign wealth fund was expected to attract at least $20 billion of foreign inflows to finance the countrys infrastructure projects.

Read also: Governments sovereign wealth fund plan questioned

However, some experts have questioned the funds establishment and management, saying the common practices are slightly different than what were set out in the governments plan. Here are things you need to know about the sovereign wealth fund and its potential dark side: a moral hazard.

First of all, what is a sovereign wealth fund?

According to the US-based Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, a sovereign wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund that commonly raises funds from balance of payment surpluses, official foreign currency operations, money from privatizations, governmental transfer payments, fiscal surpluses and revenue generated from natural resource exports.

A sovereign wealth fund invests in a range of assets, such as government bonds, equities and foreign direct investment.

Each sovereign fund has its own reason for being created and its own objectives including to fund social and economic development, diversify from nonrenewable commodity exports and increase savings for future generations, as well as stabilize a countrys budget and economy from excess volatility in revenues or exports, according to the institute.

What are things the government intends to do with a sovereign wealth fund?

A presentation shared by the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister on the omnibus bill revealed that the funds establishment was aimed at managing and allocating a sum of funding and/or state assets. The funds assets would be in the form of state capital injection, assets/business development returns, state-owned enterprise assets, grants and other defined sources.

The sovereign wealth fund would be owned by the government and would be able to engage in direct or indirect investments and work with other parties, according to the presentation material.

In contrast to common practices, the government said it was in discussions to invite foreign investments into the planned sovereign wealth fund to help finance the countrys development projects, according to Luhut.

This will have a multiplier effect, said the minister during a recent press briefing. If we have $15 billion [in a sovereign wealth fund], we have to look for projects that could generate up to $60 billion.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo said the planned sovereign wealth fund was expected to attract at least $20 billion of foreign inflows to finance the countrys infrastructure projects.

Read also: 'Largest deal in Indonesia's history': UAE pledges to invest in deal worth $22.8b

However, the plan has raised questions as experts considered foreign investments should not be considered as the funds assets.

The sovereign wealth plan is vague because a sovereign wealth fund is established by a country because it has excess money from a balance of payments surplus [among other things], like in the UAE, Centre for Strategic and International Studies economic department head Yose Rizal Damuri said on Jan. 17.

What the government planned, he said, was that domestic funding and foreign investment would be collected under a sovereign wealth fund to be used in Indonesia.

However, a sovereign wealth fund doesnt work like that, he added. [The governments plan] is probably to collect funding from other countries sovereign wealth funds.

Would a sovereign wealth fund benefit a countrys economy?

There are several examples of a sovereign wealth fund enriching a countrys economy, including the worlds largest Norway Government Pension Fund Global.

The value of Norways sovereign wealth fund grew to a record of $1.09 trillion in October, boosted by rising global stocks and the strength of the euro and dollar, as reported by Reuters.

Built since 1996 to save petroleum revenues for future generations, the size of the fund has grown to almost three times Norways annual gross domestic product, far exceeding original projections.

When the fund was set up, nobody thought it would pass $1.09 trillion. We were lucky to discover oil, the funds chief executive, Yngve Slyngstad, said in a statement confirming the record, according to Reuters.

The return on the investments in global financial markets has been so high that it can be compared to having discovered oil again, he said.

Commonly known as the oil fund and managed by a unit of the central bank, it invests close to 70 percent of funds in global equities and some 28 percent in a portfolio of fixed-income assets, according to the same report.

Do sovereign wealth funds pose risks to a countrys economy?

Some sovereign wealth funds tend not to be as transparent as others, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. For example, one sovereign wealth fund may disclose their investment holdings on a periodic basis, while another fund keeps them private.

Malaysias sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, for instance, has been in a spotlight following alleged money laundering and financial fraud in which Malaysian and US investigators believe about $4.5 billion was misappropriated.

The case has implicated Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs officials and Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho commonly known as Jho Low as well as former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.

Read also: Malaysian financier denies masterminding 1MDB graft scandal

Looted money was used by Jho to buy things from a super-yacht to art pieces as he remained a wanted man by Singaporean authorities and the US Department of Justice, according to Malaysia-based media outlet The Star.

Najib, meanwhile, faces 42 criminal charges in five separate trials related to the alleged theft of billions of dollars from 1MDB in at least six countries including the US, Singapore and Switzerland. He has pleaded not guilty, according to Reuters.

The government must be able to supervise the fund management in a bid to avoid embezzlement such as in Jiwasraya or the 1MDB case, Center of Reform on Economics Indonesia research director Piter Abdullah said.

Meanwhile, Yose pushed for good governance based on international values to avoid corruption and financial fraud in the countrys upcoming sovereign wealth fund.

Link:

Things you need to know about government's sovereign wealth fund - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta Post

Small town BC is in serious trouble and government neglect in the years preceding todays forestry sector implosion has only served to make the meltdown worse and the chances of a complete recovery more difficult.

However, this is not about singling out a political party with finger pointing and eager accusations of one-sided party ineptitude.

The sad and unfortunate truth is both BC Liberals and NDP governments (over several decades) contributed to the overall decline of rural communities through intentional policies of neglect, disguised as budgeting efficiencies.

The responsibility is therefore shared and just one example would be the long and deliberate practice of reducing or removing services from rural BC.

It began in the late 1980s, early 1990s when government offices and services were consolidated, with many relocated to larger urban centres. With those moves went ease of access along with the steady government pay cheques and supporting small business infrastructure that typically helped support a small town economy.

The flawed rationale for abandoning these communities was based on fiscal efficiencies in combination with a misplaced belief in the governments ability to replace local services with a technology based communications infrastructure.

Paradoxically, it was an Internet based system deployed in communities that often didnt have access to the Internet.

It was the start of a political process throughout rural BC that was ready, willing and able to take the taxes, fees and royalties generated by the Interiors resource industries and re-deploy that wealth for enhanced services in major urban centres.

Over time, when belts had to again be tightened, rural BC paid a disproportionate share of the cost through additional service and infrastructure cuts. And when a governments desire for increased spending, balanced budgets and personal income tax cuts defied logic, those same governments simply increased resource royalties as a means of paying for their unwillingness to pursue fair taxation measures.

It is a routine, thanks to the vote-rich Lower Mainland that can get a government elected for several terms.

However there comes a time of reckoning when sleight-of-hand politics meets the perfect storm of an interconnected global economy, dangerously ignorant and protectionist world leaders and rampant greed. And thats what is happening in our woods today.

Rural BC was thrown under the bus in return for short term and short sighted political gain. Instead of a more diversified economy we have a narrowly focussed rural economy that is unable to withstand even the slightest economic challenge.

It is also an economy that is consistently run over by politicians in their rush and lust for power. It is an economy that is seen as the provinces ATM; a ready source of cash to cover the faults of a political philosophy founded on self-interest, self-absorption and self-aggrandisement

The absurdity of this narrow-minded style of governing is now apparent. Rural BC, the golden goose that has kept the province afloat, has been plundered and abused too many times.

Rural BC has been bled to near death and the governments insatiable appetite for cold hard cash may now force them to the very urban taxpayer they have been protecting from the realities of budgets balanced on the backs of rural BC.

Bill McQuarrie is a former publisher, photojournalist and entrepreneur. Semi-retired and now living in Port McNeill, you can follow him on Instagram #mcriderbc or reach him at bill@northislandrising.com

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Rural BC The golden goose that has kept the province afloat - North Island Gazette

(MENAFN - GetNews) Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourism Market, Tourist Numbers, Countries (United States, United Kingdom, India, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Turkey, South Africa) Purpose of Visit (Holiday, Visit Friends & Relatives, Business, Others).

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's number of outbound visitors has grown year after year. Holiday activities like relaxation, shopping and sightseeing are the primary reason for driving the Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourism Market. The other major factors that propel the Saudi Arabia outbound tourism market are; rising per capita disposable income, economic growth, new generation has the willingness to roam around the world, lack of entertainment facilities in the country, increasing number of tech-savvy people, online booking and exploring new destination etc. Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourism Market throws an opportunity of USD 43 Billion by the year 2025 .

Structured survey reveals three big segments of travel conservatives, fun seekers, and diversity seekers. Conservatives have a deep dislike for entertainment-oriented events; fun seekers prefer shopping and leisure activities, and variety seekers like all holiday activities. Holiday segment among all other segments of Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourism is the most common segment of tourism.

Renub Research report titled 'Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourism Market, Tourist Numbers, Countries (United States, United Kingdom, India, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Turkey, South Africa) Purpose of Visit (Holiday, Visit Friends & Relatives, Business, Others) talks about fast-evolving, high-growth Saudi Arabia Outbound Travel Industry.

Request a free sample copy of the report: https://www.renub.com/request-sample-page.php?gturl=saudi-arabia-outbound-tourism-market-p.php

Market Summary:

By Purpose of Visit: The study explores the purpose of visit by; Holiday Tourists Arrivals & Market, Visit Friends and Relatives (VFR) Arrivals & Market, Business (MICE) Arrivals & Market and Others Arrivals & Market.

By Countries: Saudi Arabia outbound tourism categorized by countries into 10 parts; United Kingdom, United States, India, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Turkey and South Africa. This report studies multivariate statistical methods to define the market and volume of outbound visitors.

Request a free Brochure copy of the report: https://www.renub.com/request-brochure-page.php?gturl=saudi-arabia-outbound-tourism-market-p.php

If the information you seek is not included in the current scope of the study kindly share your specific requirements with our custom research team.

Browse Related Report :

Japan Outbound Tourism Market

UAE Outbound Tourism Market

Contact Us Email: Phone: +1-678-302-0700 Web: http://www.renub.com

Key Topics Covered :

1. Market Definition

2. Research Methodology

3. Executive Summary

4. Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourism

4.1 Tourists Market 4.2 Tourists Numbers

5. Tourists Share Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourism

5.1 Tourists Share by Countries 5.2 Tourists Share by Purpose - Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourism

6. Tourist Market Share Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourism

6.1 Market Share by Countries - Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourism 6.2 Market Share by Purpose - Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourism

7. United States

7.1 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourist Visitors 7.2 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Visit to United States 7.3 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) 7.4 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) in United States

8. United Kingdom

8.1 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourist Visitors 8.2 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Visit to United Kingdom 8.3 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) 8.4 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) in United Kingdom

9. Germany

9.1 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourist Visitors 9.2 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Visit to Germany 9.3 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) 9.4 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) in Germany

10. Switzerland

10.1 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourist Visitors 10.2 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Visit to Switzerland 10.3 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) 10.4 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) in Switzerland

11. India

11.1 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourist Visitors 11.2 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Visit to India 11.3 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) 11.4 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) in India

12. Australia

12.1 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourist Visitors 12.2 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Visit to Australia 12.3 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) 12.4 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) in Australia

13. Singapore

13.1 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourist Visitors 13.2 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Visit to Singapore 13.3 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) 13.4 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) in Singapore

14. Turkey

14.1 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourist Visitors 14.2 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Visit to Turkey 14.3 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) 14.4 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) in Turkey

15. South Africa

15.1 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourist Visitors 15.2 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Visit to South Africa 15.3 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourist Market (Spending) 15.4 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) in South Africa

16. Malaysia

16.1 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourist Visitors 16.2 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Visit to South Africa 16.3 Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) 16.4 By Purpose Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourists Market (Spending) in South Africa

17. Growth Drivers

17.1 Rising Socio-Economic Aspirations 17.2 The information effect: A profusion of information, online and through social media, will empower travelers 17.3 Higher spending makes Saudi Arabia a lucrative region for outbound tourism

18. Challenges

18.1 Unemployment 18.2 Resource-based economy

19. Conclusion

About Us:

Renub Research is a Market Research and Consulting Company. We have more than 10 years of experience especially in international Business-to-Business Researches, Surveys, and Consulting. We provide a wide range of business research solutions that helps companies in making better business decisions. Our clients rely on our market analysis and data to make informed knowledgeable decisions. Our pertinent analysis helps consultants, bankers and executives to make informed and correct decisions.

Media Contact Company Name: Renub Research Contact Person: Rajat Gupta Email: Send Email Phone: 16783020700 Address: 225 Kristie Ln City: Roswell State: GA Country: United States Website: http://www.renub.com/travel-and-tourism-4-c.php

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Saudi Arabia Outbound Tourism Market throws an opportunity of USD 43 Billion by the year 2025 - MENAFN.COM

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

Elites have ruled over people and commanded the surplus produced by their labor for many millennia. It is this long history we have to contend with in todays crisis of capitalism that has produced endless wars and environmental catastrophes as corporate billionaire rulers continue to promote business as usual while preparing to fight each other with armed forces and nuclear weapons. This has all been normalized. Concentrated elite power ends up massively distorting peoples understanding of the nature of big business rule. Their highly paid spokes people even shamelessly deploy concepts like freedom and liberty to rationalize the enslaving and killing of millions for profits in resource wars. But we also need to understand that despite this long reign of (t)error, human beings lived for most of their evolutionary history (a much longer period of time than that during which elites have ruled) in nomadic hunter-gatherer societies where life conditions produced a rough equality among the Paleolithic family groups. If there was anything that could be called freedom here, it was a consequence of a primitive subsistence level that demanded participation from all in obtaining the means of survival while providing minimal incentives for large-scale social conflicts. Cooperation was primary; it is what made human societies not competition. These conditions also kept the human populations low and in balance with available resources, while as some anthropologists speculate (see Marshall Sahlins), providing significant amounts of free time for cultivating social ties.

This began to change with the agricultural revolution, during which some people found themselves in better positions to extract a greater portion of the newly available surpluses that allowed them to specialize in such key elite activities as that of warrior and priest, two elite categories that generally cooperated but were sometimes in conflict. Both of these functions demanded time for training and education that basic producers did not have, though they fed and clothed the elite and thus paid with their labor for the leisure afforded aristocracies to learn how to rule. The latter certainly commanded the resources and time that can be seen as one aspect of freedom, but their opportunity for leisure, learning, and the pursuit of pleasure, self-interest and aggrandizement was paid for by the lack of freedom of the laboring classes whose work had to support both themselves and their rulers.

Those who did the work were everywhere in the majority while their overlords almost always made up a minority often a very tiny minority of the societies that they dominated. For millennia, elites ruled over large numbers by using a combination of coercion and persuasion, and in a few instances, even inclusion of the lower orders in their decision-making processes. This could usually (but not always) be done with a minimum expenditure of blood and treasure. Elites were instrumental in founding the societies in areas over which they ruled by getting a hold on the best lands, establishing the institutions and monopolizing the means and techniques of coercion, and by producing and disseminating the dominant discourse. They set up or took over and adapted the major belief systems of their societies (from late Antiquity through the medieval period, and well into our own times primarily religion), and utilized these to rationalize their rule and reinforce acceptance of social hierarchies with them at the pinnacle.

For most of Antiquity, ruling elites lived and prospered from the labor of large numbers of people: primarily slaves, but also indebted peasants, and those people subjugated by conquest. During this epoch, the Greek and Roman experiences also produced decisive developments for elite rule, including the use of democracy in some of the Greek city-states that allowed continued aristocratic leadership while giving a voice to the self-armed peasants who fought in the infantry, and even landless laborers (the thetes) who rowed in the fleet. Greek democracy and Greek science and philosophy were the legacies left by the ruling Greek elite that have been historical reference points in play up to our own times. Platos work, for example, includes extended discussions of the need for rule by an elite of philosopher kings, to be supported of course by the labor of the lower orders. As for the Romans, their Republic left its mark on history as an example of republican governments in which the aristocracy selected a small number of their peers as decision makers to serve in the Senate. In early Rome, the plebeian commoners also had their own representative assemblies acceptable to the patrician elite because the peasants and commoners (as in Greece) filled the ranks of Romes army and were taxed to support its operations. Thus, their views could appear to be taken into account, though their influence on policy was seldom decisive. The Roman Republic was replaced by imperial rule as Romes empire grew. Strong executive leadership became necessary to control the factionalism of the aristocracy and manage the military power upon which the empire rested. But, eventually, Romes armies helped to create the conditions that would lead to Romes fall. Many Roman citizens no longer wished to risk their lives in the Roman military. Professional soldiers, including large numbers of barbarians paid and equipped by the state and later used as auxiliaries under their own leaders, replaced the earlier peasant levies. Romes later emperors used these barbarian soldiers while treating them and their families with suspicion and hostility, even murdering them on occasion.

In Romes armies the troops increasingly looked to their superior officers and commanding generals for a share in the spoils of war. They were loyal to the most successful, which meant that the army now made and unmade emperors. Emperors who frequently had to fight civil wars against rivals now protected the aristocracys interests; these wars eventually overstretched and weakened the empire. Even the remnants of representative institutions would be displaced by autocratic imperial power that came to rest on the recruitment of soldiers from Romes barbarian enemies while ruthlessly taxing the empires peasant population. These policies, given barbarian pressure on Romes overextended western frontier, may have appeared necessary. Overall, however, they were a recipe for disaster that left little or no room for freedom, undermined support for Roman rule, and would end in fragmentation and chaos. Too many people, inside and outside of the empire and its armies had little incentive to continue supporting it. Thus, as historys first large and successful world empire, Rome showed that conquest could be the road to elite power and wealth and could be maintained for centuries but not indefinitely. Rome became a major reference point for later imperial rule, and, of course, for the failures and decline of empires.

Through the Middle Ages, the peasantry was the main productive class, working both for their landlord masters and themselves. The most powerful of the medieval nobility and the holders of the largest land areas, kings and magnates, tied the lesser nobility to them by grants of land in exchange for loyalty and military service. From their estates and manors, this elite hierarchy ruled over the agricultural producers residing in village lands that were a part of the lords manor but had been customarily used by the peasants for centuries. For the most part, peasants accepted their landlords rule as long as the dues demanded of them remained constrained by the long usage of custom. But peasants could become rebellious if landlords demands were seen going beyond what had been usual. Peasants, however, never really threatened elite power, at least not during the Middle Ages or for several centuries beyond. It does not seem that, given the isolation of their villages, their lack of leadership experience, and their general acceptance of their rulers ideology, that the European peasantry of this period could ever have successfully mounted a challenge to elite rule. Later peasant-based revolutions (French, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese) would tell a different story, though capitalist imperialism would eventually overwhelm the 20th century revolutions, which tried and failed to build long term worldwide revolutionary movements.

The medieval period was also marked by power struggles among the elite themselves for control of areas and, eventually, states that would emerge around certain dynasties, and by the 16th century become the European state systems among which the struggles would continue via ever-shifting alliances and antagonisms. The rivalries of these composite states extended the feudal-based conflicts over land, exacerbated by the increased resources needed to field large armies, and produced seemingly endless conflict that has indeed continued into our own times, with those powers that first developed the capitalist mode of production coming out on top. In the medieval West, the Christianity of the Roman Church was predominant and would act as a unifying force, at least ideologically, though not without developing its own institutional structures and interests that would sometimes clash with states in which the Church was a parallel authority. The Protestant Reformation would, of course, disrupt this catholic unity and add another major source of conflict, while still rationalizing elite rule via the idea of predestination Gods providence favoring those in power with success.

The nobility, trained for warfare, monopolized the upper levels of both Church and state and shaped them to serve their interests while in some states (England for example, and eventually any state that wanted to compete) increasingly blending with and driven by the emerging capitalist class. These people established educational systems (through both Church and state) to ensure their ideological hegemony. During the early Middle Ages, the legacies of Greek science and philosophy were lost or deliberately suppressed by the Christian authorities. The later medieval period and Renaissance saw a revival of Greek learning, though for most of the Middle Ages (and beyond, well into the early modern period) the Church continued to monopolize the discourse and use physical torture to repress any views deemed heretical. And, of course, the Church preached a doctrine that encouraged members of society to recognize and remain in their places where they would continue to do what they had always done. For the peasants, this meant to work and support their masters, as they had been doing for a thousand years or more in a feudal system where there were many peasant revolts, but never a robust, widespread and unified challenge to elite rule from below.

By the end of the 15th century, particularly in England, the long-prevailing feudal mode of production began to crack open from within due to changing balances among the contending classes that allowed for the development of a capitalistic mode of production that would eventually prevail throughout the world. Capitalism developed in a number of places in the early modern period as merchants accumulated capital from trade, and developed markets. But in England these developments combined with changes in agriculture that gave rise to a new capitalist economy. By this time the English nobility controlled the bulk of the land, owning much of it outright, though they were parasitic upon the tenant farmers to whom they rented their lands, and, of course, ultimately upon the labor of hired agricultural workers, former peasants whose rights to common lands had been removed, along with themselves, by a lengthy enclosure movement whereby landlords who controlled Parliament and police power took over what had been common lands and forced peasants from their holdings as they saw their lands become increasingly profitable. These displaced peasants were to become the new working class, owning no means of livelihood and with only their ability to work left to them.

The working class under capitalism was nominally and juridically free (neither serfs nor slaves, except on the colonial plantations of the New World where African slaves produced the surpluses that made planters some of the wealthiest people in the world). Now, however, they no longer controlled any means of subsistence (land). And the Industrial Revolution would eventually deprive them of their own tools. They were themselves commodities (wage slaves) forced by an economy driven by capital accumulation to sell their labor power in exchange for wages, on labor markets subject to the fluctuating needs of a new ruling class of capitalists. Capitalists paid workers a subsistence wage that represented the value of only a portion of what the worker produced, while owning the entire product of workers labor to be sold for profit. As a result of turning the peasants into workers with no way to feed and clothe themselves, English markets were the first to take a step toward mass-market production and consumption by producing for sale the basic staples such as food and clothing. But such markets now at least partially rested on the demand of wageworkers (as they still do today, representing roughly 70%). Yet worldwide, workers wages were (are) almost always barely enough for subsistence.

Subsistence farming was left in the dust; production of commodities for the market would become the main goal everywhere. Capitalism for the first time in human history introduced a mode of production based on individual capitalist-operated units such as Englands farms that produced for exchange and consistently demanded the most efficient methods (those which produced the greatest amount for the least cost, via machinery that eliminated labor, and/or cuts in wages, the latter being the most elastic of the cost-cutting measures) to keep overall production expenses low. This economic system replaced the basic peasant subsistence agriculture prevailing throughout previous human history. The new capitalism introduced a dynamic relentless competitive drive that led to innovation and exponentially expanded production, especially after the Industrial Revolution that could not have happened without this earlier capitalistic development. In terms of population growth and technical innovations, history appeared to speed up.

Capitalism has continued the rule of an elite, arguably the most powerful in history and committed to an economic system that knows no boundaries, depends on endless production and consumption (non-stop growth on a finite planet), and now threatens global environmental destruction. For millennia landed elites everywhere confronted peasants from whose labor they lived and grew relatively wealthy. Todays big capitalist elites, however, now exploit a global working class whose origins we have just discussed, and whose labor has resulted in the creation of a class of billionaires for the first time in history. The competitive struggles between and among capitalist, over control of trade and market share, natural resources, and access to the cheapest labor, have led to almost constant international conflict, including two colossal world wars in the twentieth century, wars fought for elite wealth and power, but using workers (and peasants) as cannon fodder. In defense of their interests, workers have been on a collision course with individual capitalists (and their states) since the 16th century. In more recent times, they have even confronted the capitalist class with the specter of revolution. The socialists of the 19th century and the communists of the 20th led workers and peasants in defensive struggles and, at times of crisis and war, even aimed to overthrow the rule of capital in the world. They did not succeed in this, though their efforts were met with some success in several countries where peasant exploitation lasted well into modern times. But by the end of the twentieth century, workers gains had been reversed, an unprecedented inequality prevails everywhere in the world, especially in the Global South, and working classes have been on the defensive everywhere.

Elite rule thus continues in the monopoly phase of capitalism that has concentrated power into fewer hands worldwide than in all previous history. Elites have now had centuries of ruling experience, and they have the same enemies the worlds working classes. They are in possession of the instruments of control (such as mass media) through which they deploy a complex of old and new ideologies on every imaginable front, much of which is designed to divide workers by race, gender, age, and any other categories our rulers can come up with to pit one group of working people against another. All of this is, of course, always backed up by their monopoly of state violence, which we can see in action virtually every day. Look to France for just one of many examples.

Nor is class struggle their only war front. Todays endless wars are waged for control of the worlds increasingly shrinking resources (oil, water, cheap labor, markets) sought after by monopoly capitalist interests led by big finance that has profited most from the production and encouragement of inflated debt bubbles like the real estate market that collapsed in 2007-8. The US has of course been the leader in this process, the hegemon whose post-World War II military supremacy allowed it to ride roughshod over the world, with the major exceptions of Russia and China. This has included enormously destructive wars in Korea and Vietnam, where the US wanted to set an example of what can happen to small, peripheral countries who try to control their own resources and destinies. Now, with the momentary defeat of communism, the rise of China to a global state-capitalist rival power, the recovery of a now-capitalist Russia from the US efforts to turn it into a neo-liberal colony after 1989, and the incipient alliance of these two former communist powers, the imperialist prospects of the US have taken a turn for the worst. A new cold war is upon us that portends another major conflict of imperialist powers like what overtook the world in 1914 and 1939. Todays rulers have available and have consistently used weapons of mass destruction unimaginable during the previous timespan of elite rule. Nuclear arms treaties are being ripped up and new nuclear weapons, with hypersonic delivery systems are being devised. If this were not enough to bring into being a world mass movement against capitalism, indeed against any further continuation of elite rule, the prospect of continued man-made global climate change has also stepped with frightening consequences onto the current stage of human history. Climate scientists like Ian Angus are even labeling it a new epoch, the Anthropocene, marked by the increasingly out of control production of carbon by the burning of fossil fuels that is wreaking havoc with the weather, the worlds oceans and supply of fresh water as well as unprecedented mass extinctions that are likely to include that of humanity itself. In the face of this, it is crystal clear that our elites are determined to do nothing about this situation created by their own economic practices, nothing that would cut into their profits. These conditions will add to the pressures for more resource wars up to and including the existential danger of another imperialist war now facing humanity as a whole.

So where does this leave us? Here comes the hard part that nobody seems to want to take in, and indeed it is the toughest nut to be cracked. Lots of people are pointing out the problems, even fingering capitalism as the main source of them. And there has been plenty of fight back everywhere. But few are confronting the political import of Lenins timely question: What is to be done? This is not surprising given the power of big capital to shape what people think. Worldwide collective democratic decision-making processes must replace the constant destructive competition of elite rule. The people who actually do the work should control the economy and operate it for the long-term sustainable benefit of everyone, not the profits of a few. And this program needs to be on the agenda everywhere; it needs to be an international movement of the worlds working classes, operated by and for the workers themselves. But it should also be clear that capitalist opposition to this will stop at nothing. Witness the record, just in England and the US, of massacres of workers who were resisting capitalist power, mostly in efforts to win recognition for their unions, not to mention the ferocious opposition to socialist and especially revolutionary communist movements that sought to do away with capitalism in favor of the collective power of the working class. Winston Churchill (no relation) recognized the rise of fascism in the twenties as an antidote to Bolshevism, and todays rulers have few qualms about reviving this genocidal monstrosity to protect their system. Add to the physical repression the almost constant drumbeat of anti-communism emanating from the top that has been a long and almost completely successful elite effort to demonize, distort, and suppress workers opportunities and efforts to even think about overthrowing capitalism and revolutionizing the way we exist. The capitalist-owned media, institutionalized politics and government, police and the army are all major players in protecting and preserving the capitalist status quo, and will continue to be so. Yet we seem to be running out of time to build the kind of mass international movement that can transform the dire situation we find ourselves in.

I came of age as a student in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a time of great intellectual and political ferment; a time of mass actions in the streets in support of civil rights, equality, and an end to the seemingly endless Vietnam War. And, for some of us, it was also a time to consider the sources of inequality and war, and the alternatives to this. The floodgates were open to ideas that were previously out of bounds. Our rulers could not easily contain it, though they eventually reasserted control and have worked overtime to demonize and discredit this formative experience ever since. Nevertheless, I see no shortcuts or easy paths around eliminating the source of our problems, and can only recommend that we re-examine the successes and failures of the revolutionary movements of the past couple of centuries in an effort to see a way forward politically. To do this we must NOT leave judgment in the hands of the capitalists. We need to avoid all of the efforts of capital to mislead, distort, dismiss and slander the efforts of the great revolutionaries of the past: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, V.I. Lenin, Mao Tse Tung, Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and so many unsung others who lived, fought and sacrificed for the good of humanity. We also need to understand that anyone trying to change things for the benefit of the masses of the people even when they try to play within the rules set by big business will be the targets of endless media efforts to demonize and disqualify them.

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The Long History of Elite Rule: What Will It Take To End It? - CounterPunch