30/07/2008
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| Farmers, such as these people in the northern province of Ha Tay, are struggling to find ways to improve their lives. |
| Some projects to improve the economies in rural areas have backfired, leaving farmers virtually destitute. |
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Vu Van Thinh has been working in the rice fields and raising pigs for more than ten years but his family still can not afford to repay a VND20 million ($1,200) loan.
Thinh borrowed the money to send his children to school and for their weddings, he said.
Lien, another local of Me Linh District’s Yen Bai Village in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, said all the villagers had no choice but to borrow money when they had important expenses such as weddings and funerals.
“As for the sick, they almost leave their lives to fate and just take the little medicine they can afford,” Lien said.
Yen Bai is a farming village but most of the residents, like Thinh and Lien, now find it impossible to live off the land.
Nguyen Thi Mao said her family of six used to depend solely on their rice field for food.
But Mao said she would be lucky to earn VND12 million (US$716) after a year working non-stop.
However, the bottom line, after all expenses, was that she could only keep a small amount of rice to feed her family, Mao said.
In fact what Mao earned from one working day was only VND990 ($0.06), according to bank officials who visited her home last year.
Mao also bred five pigs but last year’s pig pandemic wiped out all her expected profit from six years of work.
The most valuable thing in Mao’s house now is a television worth VND1.9 million ($113) but it was bought from the money that her son earned working in a factory.
Because the rice fields no longer provide them with a means to make a living, many villagers have opted for other jobs.
Mao’s husband, now 63, went to a town in the province to watch vehicles for a shop’s customers.
His salary is VND500,000 ($30) a month.
Mao said although she sometimes worried about living alone, she was happy her husband and children could earn money off the farm.
Most of the village’s young men have gone to work at industrial zones.
Older men become carpenters and masons while the village’s young women went to Hanoi and nearby villages to pick through rubbish to find recyclables for resale.
But sometimes leaving a farm is more than just a search for a better income.
In villages such as Bong Lang Village in Ha Nam Province, also in the north, the residents feel they have no choice but to abandon their farms.
The village was once 450 hectares but two thirds of the village was taken over to build four factories, said Dinh Xuan Hai, head of the village’s farmers group.
“Many generations of my family used to live on the rice field but we lost almost all of it to the factories,” said villager Nguyen Thi Nen.
In 2003, the government announced a factory would be built in the village and many families would be able to buy motorbikes, refrigerators and televisions with their compensation payments, Nen recalled.
But then three more cement factories were built and the farmers were really frightened as they had no land left to cultivate, she said.
Hai said there was already a proposal to build another cement factory on the remaining 150 hectares of the village.
“With our farmland gone, we don’t know how we can live after spending all our compensation payments,” he said.
He said more than 200 farmers were jobless and only six of them had been hired by the cement factories, although the developers had promised to hire all the farmers that lost their land to the factories.
The only option for the strong men of the village is to work at rock mines, a more dangerous but less lucrative profession than working on their former farms, he said.
Unfortunately, public projects also cause problems in villages other than Hai’s.
Farmers in Loi Quan Island in the southern province of Tien Giang are troubled after a dike was built in 1995 around the island to stop soil salinity.
Before the dike was built, water around the island was salty for six months and sweet the other six months.
The farmers could grow rice, many kinds of vegetables as well as breed animals, said Nguyen Thi Nga, a local.
“There were months my family didn’t spend a single penny as we could find almost everything we needed from nature.”
Now the dike is built, residents can hardly find any fish in the river and the salinity is even worse, Nga said.
“The soil is still hard and the alum is still there even after a whole month of rain.”
Nguyen Van Khoi, a local of the island’s Phu Dong Commune, said the provincial government had launched many shrimp farming projects in the area, which had also damaged the soil.
As the projects were carried out, salty water was pumped into the field to make shrimp farms but after those projects went bankrupt, the soil was so contaminated it was almost impossible to return to rice farming, he said.
Luu Van Hai, chairman of the commune People’s Committee, said 70 percent of young people had left home to earn their living elsewhere.
Only the elderly and children remained in the commune.
Kieu Manh Minh, director of Tien Giang Province’s Agriculture and Rural Development Bank, said the farmers had debts of more than VND50 billion ($3 million) because of the failed shrimp farms but they were too poor to repay the money.
“The shrimp projects were a big mistake. It did more harm than good because the farmers didn’t have enough capital or experience,” Minh said.
Le Duc Thinh, an official from the Institute of Strategy and Policy for Agriculture and Rural Development, said there should be insurance to protect people working in the field of agriculture.
It would help the farmers overcome risks such as natural disasters, while increasing productivity and thereby attract more investment to improve the quality of produce, Thinh said.
Farmers contributed much to the society but they have had to endure many problems like natural disasters by their own, he said.
The government should subsidize farmers’ insurance premiums, Thinh added. |
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A construction project in Ho Chi Minh City. The prices of housing and construction materials rose 24.9 percent in July from a year earlier, the General Statistics Office said last week.
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| The soaring price of construction materials has hit many homebuilders where it hurts the most – in the hip pocket. |
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Standing in front of a three-story house under construction in Ho Chi Minh City’s Thu Duc District, Vo Van Diep was grappling with a vexing question: how could he find the additional VND200 million (US$12,000) required to complete construction of his house.
Diep said he and his wife had set aside some VND700 million ($41,800) and began building the house in March.
But soaring cement prices in May meant construction was delayed for two months.
After Diep restarted construction early this month, the soaring steel prices forced him to delay the work again.
“With the cost of construction material surging 30 percent on what was estimated, I am afraid my family cannot earn enough to afford the extra cost,” Diep said.
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CEMENT PRICES COOL
Although the price of many construction materials has soared, there are signs cement prices may have peaked.
Popular brand Ha Tien is retailing for a maximum of VND72,000 ($4.75) compared with VND76,000 ($4.52) in May when the cement prices were at their highest.
The prices are expected to continue to fall next month as demand dwindles because many public projects have been delayed as part of the government’s inflation-fighting agenda. |
Homebuilder Dung said since mid-June she had to pay tens of millions of dong more than she expected to buy steel, as well as wear the cost of higher brick prices for her house in HCMC’s Tan Binh District.
“I am recalculating everything so that I can scrimp on skyrocketing construction materials as much as possible,” Dung said.
The plights of Diep and Dung are common among homebuilders in HCMC who have been hit by the soaring prices of construction materials, particularly steel.
The upward trend
The prices of housing and construction materials rose 24.9 percent in July from a year earlier, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said last week.
The steel price Monday averaged VND21 million to VND 22 million ($1,253-$1,313) a ton.
The price of steel was quoted between VND13 millionand VND14 million per ton last December and VND17 million per ton in April.
Major steel firms such as Vina Kyoei and Pomina said the price of steel bars had increased by VND100,000 ($5.95) each from VND380,000-VND390,000 ($22.62-$23.21) last month.
Other construction materials have also risen, exacerbating the worries of prospective homeowners.
Dong Tam Long An, a major brick manufacturer based in southern Long An Province, said it had increased the price of its products by 30 percent since early this month.
Other brick makers and paint suppliers said they too had increased prices by up to 30 percent.
But many agents said despite the price rises, many people were still rushing to buy construction materials out of fear prices would increase further.
Many contractors have also agreed to buy construction materials in bulk despite the fact that they would pay high prices, agents said.
Economic experts linked the price rises to the increasing price of imported steel billet used in manufacturing and in imported finished steel.
Imported steel billet now costs $1,200-$1,300 per ton, up from $735 a ton in February.
More than 60 percent of the country’s steel producers depend on imports, mostly from China.
Some steel producers also blame the price hikes on the many middlemen involved in distribution.
They point out that while their prices are VND18 million ($1,071) per ton on average, consumers pay up to VND21 million per ton. |
HA NOI — A recent Action Aid Viet Nam study said that although WTO status has led to development of the banking industry, 85 per cent of the rural poor population still do not have access to small loans.
While there are five State banks, more than 40 joint-venture banks, and nearly 1,000 credit-unions operating today, there are fewer sources of micro finance.
The study, which was handed to banking and policy experts at a meeting on micro financing in Ha Noi this week, was carried out in the provinces of Ninh Thuan, Son La and Quang Ninh in the first half of this year.
Agricultural modern-isation, an increase in commerce, and government policy provided opportunities to increase lending, said the study.
The study also found " the unprofessional manner, short-term strategy, and passiveness of micro financiers hurt development of the industry,"
Limited micro finance is available through two State programmes, women’s and farmers’ associations, and international organisations. Phan Cu Nhan, director of the International Co-operation Department of the Social Policies Bank said his bank gave 4.6 million small loans to about three million households as well as thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Unstable sources of capital and weak trademark protection made it difficult to give poor people long-term low-interest loans, Nhan said, adding that a national micro finance strategy was needed to increase lending and services for the poor.
Bui Huy Tho, deputy director of the National Financial Supervisory Commission of the State Bank of Viet Nam said his bank planned to submit a draft law with a chapter on micro finance to the Government this year, but due to inadequate research has delayed submission until 2010.
Norma Lasala, managing director of the Philippines-based Serviam Ventures and Management Corporation, said the Philippines, which joined the WTO in 1995, had similar trouble with micro financing.
She said both local and foreign banks had ignored credit access for the poor - and even small enterprises were finding it hard to get funds.
She said jobs in the service sector had grown, but added that these employees did not come from the ranks of the poor
Lasala praised non-governmental organisations’ efforts to improve credit channels for the poor. — VNS
The Veterinary Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has said over the past two weeks, new avian flu outbreaks have been reported in Dong Thap and Nghe An provinces, and new blue-ear pig outbreaks have been uncovered in six provinces while foot-and-mouth disease in Cao Bang and Lang Son provinces has been under control.
The national avian flu prevention steering committee said on July 22 that climate change has made poultry’s and animals’ resistance weaker, which increases the risk of the spread of blue ear pig disease in the Central Highlands and the south of southern Vietnam.
The committee has asked localities to strictly inspect the outbreaks to promptly deal with them, educate breeders about the danger of each disease, and prepare enough equipment, materials, chemical and capital to cope with the epidemics.
BTA
YANGON, 25 July 2008 (IRIN) - Following a three-day mission to Myanmar, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes says he hopes for stronger donor response in the wake of the Post Nargis Joint Assessment Report (PONJA) report released in Singapore on 22 July. “There's every reason for the donors to now respond generously,” he told IRIN in Yangon. Nearly 140,000 people were killed or left missing after Cyclone Nargis hit the Ayeyarwady Delta on 2 and 3 May, affecting some 2.4 million people. Q: Almost three months since Cyclone Nargis struck the country, where are we now in the relief and recovery effort?
A: The relief effort will need to go on for another six to nine months because people still need a supply of food until they can feed themselves. They need further help with water and sanitation and shelter and there is a continuing need obviously for medical help too and monitoring to make sure there are no disease outbreaks. Together with that, we need to be conducting early recovery activities. Things like agriculture to make sure the farmers can plant and they have the seeds and fertilisers and the ability to plough. The fishermen will need boats and nets and so on to restart their activities. There is a whole range of activity there under the humanitarian label which we need to continue for some months to come. Q: As of today, the Myanmar flash appeal for victims of the disaster has been covered by just 40 percent. Why the shortfall?
A: The initial appeal was for US$201 million and we have just about $200 million now. We issued a revised appeal two weeks ago for $480 million. We've already had some good news. The British have produced some more money. Australia announced an extra $30 million two days ago. Other donors I have spoken to are looking positively on helping more. I'm reasonably confident that we will get more resources. I don't know if we will get the whole $480 million. It's very unusual to get everything you appeal for but what the donors wanted when we first had the pledging conference in Yangon on 25 May was access for international relief workers to the delta and a proper assessment of needs. Access is there. International aid workers are working in the delta in a reasonably normal way and we now have the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment of both the relief needs and of course the longer-term recovery and reconstruction needs. There's every reason for the donors to now respond generously.
Q: What steps need to be taken to address that?
A: I have been talking to the donors both publicly and privately. I have encouraged them to think that any concerns they may have had about access, monitoring, the basis of the needs, have been met and dealt with. Therefore, this is now a normal international relief operation where the needs of the people are still great and [will be] for some time to come. There's every reason to respond generously. That's the conversation we've been having and I'm reasonably confident we can generate a good proportion of the resources we now need, as long as the cooperation with the government goes on as constructively as it has in the past two months.
Q: Initially, access for aid workers to the delta was largely restricted. How would you describe the situation now with the government in terms of cooperation?
A: I think the situation now is much better than two months ago. There are hundreds of international relief workers working in the delta now from NGOs and UN agencies. There are no problems getting visas. You still have to get permission from the government to travel to the affected area and that sometimes takes a few days and there can be bureaucratic hiccups with that. It's not absolutely perfect. It's not as easy as we would like. But essentially the access is there. The important thing is that that access should remain there for the remaining period of the response. Q: Are you confident that access will continue?
Photo: Contributor/IRIN  |
| Food assistance being offloaded in Labutta, southern Myanmar. Thousands of survivors of Cyclone Nargis will need food assistance for the next six months | A: I am reasonably confident. There is no reason to suppose it will change now. But that's one of the reasons I wanted to come here, to discuss with the government the need to maintain that. I think the tripartite coordination mechanism, involving ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations], as well as the UN and the government, has been very effective in resolving problems. There have been problems and there will be problems no doubt in the future. But we have been able to discuss them frankly and resolve them. That's very good. We need to continue doing that. The tripartite core group is going to continue its work I think for at least another year. That's what the ASEAN foreign ministers decided in Singapore. That was a very welcome decision from our point of view. So there is every reason to suppose that this kind of flexibility and access will continue. Q: How important is ASEAN in the overall effort?
A: I think the role of ASEAN has been to provide a bridge if you like between the Myanmar government and the international community more widely. They have provided a level of comfort to both sides. I think the role of ASEAN has been very positive, very important. We're very glad that it is going to continue for another year and we will want to go on working with ASEAN in the humanitarian area in other ways as well, maybe through other disasters. I think it has been a unique cooperation between the UN and a regional organisation for a natural disaster. There are lessons we can apply to other areas of the world as well.
Photo: UNICEF Madagascar |
| One of many, cyclone Ivan tore accross Madagascar in February 2008 | JOHANNESBURG, 24 July 2008 (IRIN) - In an effort to mitigate the negative impact of climate change, new funding by European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) will help bolster disaster risk reduction and community resilience in Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi and the Comoros.
A statement released on 23 July said the EC had extended the scope of its disaster preparedness programme (DIPECHO) with a new allocation of €5 million (US$7.8 million) for the four southern African countries.
"This is an important step in supporting communities that are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. Experience shows that many lives can be saved if people know what precautions to take and how to react when the disaster strikes," Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, said in the statement.
"Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi and the Comoros all suffer the serious effects of tropical storms that develop in the Indian Ocean. This type of action is especially important in a context of rising food prices and climate change," Michel noted.
More storms on the horizon
"The number of extreme weather events has increased sharply in recent years. Climate change already seems to be having a serious humanitarian impact," John Clancy, spokesman for Commissioner Michel, told IRIN.
"The decision to extend it [DIPECHO] to the southwest Indian Ocean reflects an unfortunate reality: more cyclones are occurring in that area, causing ever more structural damage and serious flooding," Clancy said.
| The increase in extreme climatic events keeps such communities in a state of constant quasi-emergency, and does not allow them to establish the long-term coping mechanisms they need to allow real development to take off. | According to the 2007 Annual Disaster Statistical Review, published by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED): "Last year's number of reported disasters confirmed the global upward trend in natural disaster occurrence. This upward trend is mainly driven by the increase in the number of reported hydro-meteorological disasters."
In Mozambique, catastrophic flooding in 2000 left up to 800 dead; in 2007 dozens of people were killed, and the country is yet to recover from floods in January 2008.
Over 100 people died when Madagascar was hit by cyclones Fame, Jokwe and Ivan earlier in 2008. The powerful winds, heavy rains and flooding affected over 340,000 people, of whom 190,000 lost their homes.
Cyclone Indhala, which hit Madagascar in 2007, caused over $240 million worth of destruction, according to CRED statistics. Altogether, there were six cyclones in 2007 - the worst year on record - while drought in the parched south has persisted for several years.
Malawi, also hit by floods earlier this year, has turned a corner since 2005, when drought left close to five million people in need of food aid, but the country remains particularly exposed to dry spells and food insecurity.
According to The Climate Change Risk Report by Maplecroft, a UK-based firm that specialises in risk mapping, at the beginning of July, Comoros was the country most vulnerable to the future impacts of global warming, such as increased storms, rising sea levels and agricultural failure.
Weathering the storm
"The funding targets communities that are already vulnerable because of extreme poverty, isolation due to weak infrastructure and difficult communications, and in Malawi and Mozambique, the high incidence of HIV and AIDS," Clancy said.
"The increase in extreme climatic events keeps such communities in a state of constant quasi-emergency, and does not allow them to establish the long-term coping mechanisms they need to allow real development to take off."
Investing in preparedness would not only save lives and relieve suffering, "it also means that limited resources can be used more effectively - the cost of good preparation is a lot less than the cost of clearing up the mess afterwards," Clancy commented.
It pays to prepare "bottom-up"
"Important lessons were learned from the big floods in Mozambique in 2000 and 2001, when hundreds died. The floods of 2007 were of a similar magnitude and in the same area, but the government and actors on the ground were much better prepared," Clancy said.
With the capacity of the Mozambican national disaster management authority (INGC) greatly boosted by 2007, contingency plans for pre-positioning essential relief items and evacuations were put in place. "Around 230,000 people were displaced and/or lost their livelihoods, but large-scale fatalities were avoided," Clancy said.
While bolstering the INGC was a "top-down" approach, the new funds would be more "bottom-up", targeting communities and helping them to organise themselves and be able to take measures to preserve their livelihoods.
Photo: Tomas de Mul/IRIN |
| Communities in Comoros are the world's most vulnerable to the future impacts of global warming, such as increased storms, rising sea levels and agricultural failure | According to the EC statement, various types of programmes would be supported, "including practical training in disaster response for community groups and institutions, early warning systems, public information campaigns and small-scale infrastructure works".
"In Madagascar, it has been calculated that a child living in a disaster-prone area loses on average one full school year due to lack of access to or destruction of their schools," Clancy said.
The new funds would assist communities by establishing cyclone- and flood-resistant schools and clinics, "which can also serve as shelters for the community, and by funding the acquisition of small boats, for example, which allow children to continue to access their schools even in heavily flooded areas."
The statement also said implementation of these projects should begin in October 2008, before the onset of the next cyclone season around December.
26/07/2008
On the 18th July 2008, 115 porkers have been delivered to 93 families in Huong Phong Commune (Thua Thien Hue Province). 73 more will be tranferred in few days.
This is a component of the DWF project "Livelihood recovery in Thua Thien Hue province after 2007 flooding, and 2008 cold snap".
These porkers (F1), bought in the north of the country, have been put in quarantine during 3 weeks, due to the outbreak of blue ear pig disease in some communes of the Province, and severe controls of veterinary service of the Province. DWF is discussing with the authorities about a possible vaccination against this disease.
In others communes, where the blue ear disease appeared, DWF will wait the end of the outbreak to deliver porkers and saws to the families.
DWF
23/07/2008
Ha Noi — Viet Nam could suffer losses to the tune of US$5.5 million in traffic accidents by 2020 unless concrete measures are taken to address the issue, said experts in the transport sector at a meeting in the capital yesterday.
The experts had converged in the capital to discussion various solutions to the traffic problems and alarming rise in accidents. They estimated an increase in accidents between eight to 10 per cent every year.
During the meeting they estimated that with a growth rate of more than 7 per cent, the country could have 52.6 million vehicles on the roads by 2020.
One suggestion to improve road safety in the country was to build the image of kind-hearted traffic policemen, said Takagi Michimasa, chief advisor of the national road traffic safety master plan’s study.
This would have to be done at a mass level among ordinary people so that they are encouraged to obey road safety and traffic rules, he said.
A joint study with the National Traffic Safety Committee of Viet Nam (NTSC) and the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) recently found that policemen need to play their roles effectively as implementers of traffic safety rules and its management.
Bui Huynh Long, chief of the NTSC Standing Office thought that task might prove difficult as policemen had earned a bad reputation for taking bribes from traffic violators. It was largely due to this that many people ignored road safety and traffic laws.
Drunk drivers, the poor quality of road as well as low levels of awareness on traffic rules had come to typify Viet Nam and resulted in the high number of traffic accidents, Long said.
Long cited the example of other countries where people preferring living away from traffic corridors, a somewhat alien concept in Viet Nam. The Government’s move to pay for the clearance of obstruction in traffic corridors had had little effect.
Long said studies must find Vietnamese ways that would work with Vietnamese people because it was a unique country where applying international formulas would not work. — VNS
22/07/2008
What impact do natural disasters brought about by climate change have on children?
Authors:
Publisher: International Save the Children Alliance, 2008
Full text of document In the face of Disasters - Children and climate change
Climate change is likely to lead to an increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, and it will be the people in the poorest countries, especially children, who will bear the brunt. This report explores the impact of increasing disasters on children, and examines some of the ways in which the international community can work effectively with children and their communities to reduce the impact of disasters and improve survival, resilience and the prospects of recovery.
The publication states that up to 175 million children every year are likely to be affected by the kinds of natural disasters brought about by climate change. It is argued that children should not only be seen as victims of natural disasters and climate change, as they can also be communicators of good practice and active agents of change.
Some of the key issues analysed in the report include:
- the major impacts of natural disasters on children, focusing on: the spread and intensity of disease; increase of food insecurity, vulnerability and exploitation of children in emergency situations; and access to education
- disaster risk reduction (DRR) and the Hyogo Framework of Action
- building coping strategies and enhancing early warning through a community-based approach
- children being seen as part of the solution to the problems posed by disasters
- social protection measures like insurance, cash transfers, pensions, and child grants in reducing risk and vulnerability for children
- the role of national governments, international community, humanitarian agencies and donors in strengthening disaster preparedness
Save the Children highlights a number of recommendation to face the predicted increase in and severity of natural disasters. The recommendations include:
- industrialised countries should enact binding commitments to reduce carbon emissions by in order to limit global warming to no more than 2° Celsius by 2050.
- the countries that adopted the Hyogo Framework for Action must deliver on their commitments to ensure that disaster risk reduction is a national and local priority
- donors should ensure that the traditionally under-funded sectors particularly important to children are better supported
- children should be involved in designing, carrying out and evaluating disaster risk reduction programming at local level.
- national governments and the international community should increase investment in livelihoods and social protection programmes
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