Latest news with #DeborahBarasa
Morocco World
3 days ago
- Politics
- Morocco World
Plastic Pollution Treaty Talks Collapse in Geneva
Casablanca – Ten days of high-stakes negotiations between 185 nations aimed at forging the world's first legally binding treaty to combat plastic pollution ended in deadlock on Friday, with diplomats leaving the United Nations' Palais des Nations in disbelief and frustration. The talks were billed as the final push in a three-year process to address a crisis that sees millions of tonnes of plastic waste entering the oceans each year. 'We will not have a treaty to end plastic pollution here in Geneva,' Norway's negotiator said, while Cuba lamented: 'We have missed a historic opportunity.' The collapse centred on a familiar divide: a coalition led by the European Union, Canada, Kenya, and several African and Latin American nations called for strict measures to cut global plastic production and phase out toxic chemicals. On the other side, largely oil-producing states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia, Iran and Malaysia, insisted the treaty should focus solely on waste management, leaving production limits off the table. Kenya's Environment Minister Deborah Barasa urged compromise, saying nations could agree on a framework now and work out technical details later. 'We need to come to a middle ground,' she told reporters. 'We need to leave with the treaty.' The OECD warns that if current trends continue, fossil-fuel-based plastic production will nearly triple by 2060, reaching 1.2 billion tonnes annually. For small island states, the stakes are existential. Speaking on behalf of 14 Pacific nations, Tuvalu warned that without global cooperation, 'millions of tonnes of plastic waste will continue to be dumped in our oceans, affecting our ecosystem, food security, livelihood and culture.' Ecuador's Luis Vayas Valdivieso, chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, announced that discussions would resume at a later date. Environmental groups warned that without a shift in strategy, the process risks repeating its failures. Read also: Geneva Talks Reignite Hope for Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution
Express Tribune
3 days ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Clock ticks down on plastic pollution treaty
Negotiators trying to secure a global agreement on tackling the scourge of plastic pollution were frantically trying to find common ground with just hours left on Thursday. Countries wanting bold action to turn the tide on plastic garbage were trying to build last-minute bridges with a group of oil-producing nations — after three years of talks. "We need to have a coherent global treaty. We can't do it on our own," Kenya's Environment Minister Deborah Barasa told AFP. Kenya is in the High Ambition Coalition group of countries. Barasa suggested nations could strike a treaty now, then work in some of the finer details further down the line. "We need to come to a middle ground. There's some compromise that may need to be done, and then we can have a step-wise approach in terms of building up this treaty... and end plastic pollution. "We need to leave with the treaty." With 15 million tonnes of plastic dumped in the ocean every minute, French President Emmanuel Macron asked: "What are we waiting for to act?" "I urge all states gathered in Geneva to adopt an agreement that truly meets the scale of this environmental and public health emergency," he said on X. All eyes were on whether the chair of the talks, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, would come up with a radically improved draft text. The Ecuadoran diplomat's previous attempt was shredded on impact Wednesday as one country after another branded it unacceptable. The High Ambition group dismissed it as an empty document, shorn of bold action such as curbing production and phasing out toxic ingredients. They argued it had been reduced to a waste management accord. For the so-called Like-Minded Group, led by Gulf states it crossed too many of their red lines. They said it had not done enough to narrow the scope of what they might be signing up for. The group is a cluster of mostly oil-producing states that includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia and Iran. They want the treaty to focus primarily on waste management. Multiple regional groups huddled in meetings early Thursday. "It is very tense," Greenpeace delegation chief Graham Forbes told AFP. "These final hours are critically important. We need to see meaningful obligations in this text — and now is the moment to do it." The two key cross-regional blocs — the High Ambition Coalition and the Like-Minded Group — were to have their own meetings before marching back into the plenary session, which brings all the negotiating countries together in the UN Palais des Nations' main assembly hall
Voice of America
07-02-2025
- Health
- Voice of America
African nations prepare for what's to come after pause on US aid
African governments are gearing up for what is to come following the 90-day pause on most U.S.-funded foreign aid as they worry about the potential effects. In Kenya, for instance, Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa said Wednesday in Nairobi that as her country navigates complex challenges, ensuring continuation of essential health services, especially with programs related to HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, is essential. 'For more than 40 years, we've been able to depend on partners. PEPFAR has done a great job in ensuring that HIV patients, TB patients are receiving health services,' she said, referring to the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a program that works with partners in 55 countries worldwide. 'With more than 3.7 million being on HIV medication [in Kenya] … I believe it's critical for us to think of sustainable solutions ... [and] alternative forms of funding,' Barasa said. While the freeze has been modified to allow waivers for 'life-saving humanitarian assistance,' including 'core life-saving medicine,' which may apply to health programs such as PEPFAR, many countries are working to assess the implications of what may amount to an end of U.S. foreign aid. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the waiver is clear: "If it saves lives, if it's emergency lifesaving aid — food, medicine, whatever — they have a waiver. I don't know how much clearer we can be." South Africa, with 7.8 million people with HIV, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the PEPFAR program the past two decades. Its health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, told reporters last week in Johannesburg that the country was taken by surprise by the pause in aid and that officials are still trying to decipher the full meaning. This week, Motsoaledi met with U.S. Embassy officials to discuss bilateral health cooperation and the new U.S. policies on assistance. The two sides promised to keep the communications channels open as they discuss lifesaving health partnerships, according to a joint statement after the meeting. Asanda Ngoasheng, a South African political analyst, said countries will be affected one way or the other because many public health systems exist only because of the PEPFAR program. 'Even in the case PEPFAR is not funding 100% of the programs, any money that is removed means that countries simply would not be able to afford programs that they were able to afford with the money that was being supplemented by PEPFAR before,' Ngoasheng said. Programs not related to health are also affected. In Senegal, for example, an infrastructure and development project financed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an initiative that was started by Republican U.S. President George W. Bush, could lose funding. The $550 million power project being implemented by Millennium Challenge Account Senegal was designed to improve the country's transmission network and increase electricity access in rural areas and to those on the outskirts of cities in the south and central regions. Mamadou Thior, a journalist and chair of the media watchdog CORED, told VOA: 'The financing coming from the U.S. for this second phase will impact about 12 million people.' Thior referred to a recent speech by Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko that emphasized the need for countries to work on being self-sufficient. "It's high time for Africans and other people to depend on themselves and not from Western aid because this is what can be the drawbacks,' Thior said. 'They will have to depend on national resources to go ahead with the rest of the [electricity] project because there's no way to go backwards,' he said. In Nigeria, a country that received about $1 billion in U.S. foreign aid last year, officials this week launched a committee with members from finance, health and environmental ministries to develop an alternative for some U.S.-funded programs.
