Minimum wages should be set by member states and not centrally controlled by the European Union, minister Carmelo Abela told EU peers during a videoconferencing meeting this week.
Abela said that while ensuring adequate minimum wages was important, governments had to be able to have the necessary leeway to set them according to their national realities.
The minister within the Office of the Prime Minister was speaking during an informal videoconference of Employment and Social Affairs Ministers in the European Union, hosted by the Party of European Socialists.
The European Commission in October proposed an EU directive that would set a framework for minimum wages across all EU member states and encourage collective bargaining, which evidence shows tends to lead to higher minimum wages.
Video: DOI
All EU member states have minimum wage legislation. In six countries, minimum wages are protected exclusively through collective bargaining mechanisms.
When unveiling its proposal, the Commission emphasised that it would not oblige Member States to introduce statutory minimum wages and would not set any common minimum wage level.
Abela said the Commission’s efforts should be commended but that Malta’s position was that minimum wages should be nationally regulated and based on labour market specificities within that country.
He acknowledged that the proposed directive would bring member states closer to introducing mandatory mechanisms that lead to more dynamic minimum wages, but expressed concern that the directive would leave countries that undergo an economic shock exposed.
Independent journalism costs money. Support Times of Malta for the price of a coffee.
The <a title="EU" href="/search/EU">EU</a> foreign policy chief on Dec. 4 said <a title="Turkey" href="/search/Turkey">Turkey</a> and the bloc share common interests on developing a good neighborhood.
Addressing the Rome Mediterranean Dialogue Forum, Josep Borrell said that at the last European Council meeting on Oct. 1, EU leaders decided to seek positive engagement with Turkey and evaluate the situation according to whether more positive approach would be seen from the Turkish side.
“There are not very much positive signals that came from Turkey during these months both in Cyprus and on the drillings [in the Eastern Mediterranean], the talks between Greece and Turkey has not been developing” Borrell noted.
He stressed that the EU has to take steps in light of the developments.
“I am strongly convinced that Turkey and European Union has a common interest on developing a good neighborhood. Turkey is there and will still be there [in the region]” he said.
“And it [Turkey] has regional ambitions. And we have to understand that Turkey also is hosting 3.5 million refugees from Syria that we have to help to take care of them. And we are doing, and we will have to continue doing that because the help is not to the Turkish government but to the Syrian refugees,” he added.
Borrell said they need to ask for better engagement to resolve territorial water disputes, to respect the sovereign rights of EU members, and to seek a better understanding of how to share gas field revenues, adding that Turkey is also asking for it.
The EU foreign policy chief said it is time to look at whether Turkey and the bloc can have a better partnership and neighborhood.
“If it is not possible, the European Union Council will have to take the decision that the only European Union can take. Because, the sanctions regime is a matter of the member states.
“So, let’s see what we can do [at the] next European Union Council [meeting]. I cannot advance the result of the discussion and just preparing it and offering alternatives,” Borrell added.
CHENNAI: Superstar Rajinikanth’s spiritual politics has got nothing to do with any particular religion and the actor will embark on a political journey of inclusiveness without any kind of discrimination, his close aide Tamizharuvi Manian said on Saturday. Spiritual politics was first proposed by Mahatma Gandhi, he noted.
Rajinikanth had on Thursday announced he will float his political party in January 2021 to face next year’s Assembly polls and take forward spiritual politics.
Manian, a former Congress leader, has been appointed by the actor in a supervisory role in the proposed party and for its launch.
Speaking to reporters here after holding discussions with Rajinikanth, Manian said there was no link between spiritual politics and religion politics.
“Spirituality has no religion. A spiritualist is one who sees him in every living being and all of them in him. He has no caste, religion, no discrimination. Spirituality is all about embracing everyone with love. Rajini is going to do that,” Manian said.
Rajinikanth’s spiritual politics should not be construed as for or against any particular religion as the actor is “indebted” to all of Tamils who have taken him to great heights, he added.
“There is nothing like only a particular caste or religion stood by him. Beyond caste and religion, the entire Tamil Nadu has taken him to such heights and therefore he brings in a brand of spiritual politics encompassing all,” he said.
Mahatma Gandhi first proposed spiritual politics where the one practising it should remain selfless.
“Spiritual politics is not some discovery of Rajini. Mahtama Gandhi said it first… there will be no selfish interest and it is all about public welfare which Rajini will strive for.”
“Further, the actor does not want the party to be strengthened by criticising others or “talking about the mistakes of DMK and AIAMDK” but will reach out to people with “what I intend to do for people,” he added.
Rajinikanth aims to provide corruption-free, transparent administration where there will no discrimination based on caste or religion, Manian said, echoing what the superstar said on Thursday.
The actor’s politics will be a departure from the current “hate politics” in Tamil Nadu where attacking each other is the order of the day, he said.
Asked about Rajinikanth’s earlier announcement that he did not intend to be Chief Minister even if his party captured power, Manian said that matter was not being discussed now.
Negotiators from the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific community signed off on a broad 20-year partnership deal to succeed the Cotonou Agreement on Thursday night (3 December) after nearly three years of difficult talks.
ACP chief negotiator Robert Dussey and the EU’s International Partnerships Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen confirmed an agreement that focuses on six broad areas: human rights, democracy and governance; security; human and social development; environmental sustainability and climate change; sustainable growth; and migration and mobility.
The agreement, which was signed in 2001 and covers trade and political relations between the EU and the ACP, was due to expire in March. However, the talks have been repeatedly delayed, in large part because of internal divisions between EU and ACP member states, and the new treaty will not enter force until December 2021 at the earliest.
EU member states have been divided over whether to offer more generous or tougher conditions on migration, legal migration pathways, and re-admission for failed asylum seekers and economic migrants. Sex and reproductive health issues and human rights questions are also yet to be resolved.
However, there is still space to make more adjustments to the text before Dussey and Urpilainen are expected to initial the agreement in January. The ratification process will then proceed throughout 2021.
In the meantime, the Cotonou Agreement will be extended until 30 November 2021.
“We have prolonged Cotonou but it’s high time we agreed a new one,” said a senior EU official.
“There is a real shift in a structure of the agreement,” the official said, pointing to the ‘3+1’ composition of the new deal, composed of a common foundation to all countries, which sets out shared values and priorities, along with three regional protocols for Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific.
The regional protocols will have their own specific governance regimes. The European Commission says this will “allow for an unprecedented regional focus”.
The sub-Saharan African protocol is set to dove-tail with the negotiations between the EU and the African Union on a new ‘strategic partnership’ between the two continents. EU and AU leaders are set to meet for a mini-summit on 9 December.
The regional protocol was a key demand of African leaders. After initially agreeing to negotiate a continent-to-continent deal brokered by the African Union, which would have effectively scrapped the EU-ACP process, Africa states had a last-minute change of heart, opting to maintain the EU-ACP process, but with continent-to-continent protocols.
The treaty has also been adjusted to take account of the UN-agreed Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate change agreement. It no longer has a development aid component as a result of the European Development Fund being integrated within the EU budget.
Meanwhile, the new text forbids discrimination on any grounds, including sexual orientation and gender.
However, on trade, the controversial economic partnership agreements will remain unchanged. They have been widely criticised for perpetuating unbalanced trade relations between the EU and African countries, and left unratified by a large number of African countries.
The European Commission will next week publish its EU-Africa ‘strategy’, which the bloc hopes will form the basis of a new ‘partnership’ with the African continent. EU Foreign Affairs chief Josep Borrell will launch the blueprint on Monday (9 March), kick-starting seven months of negotiation between ministers and leaders from the two continents.
Alongside the regional protocols, the new agreement will also replace the Joint Parliament Assembly composed of MEPs from the European Parliament and ACP parliamentarians with three separate joint assemblies for Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific respectively.
That has prompted a threatened veto from the European Parliament unless it has guarantees that there will be sufficient parliamentary oversight of the agreement.
“A parliamentary dimension with a real consultative role for the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly as well as at a regional level is a non-negotiable condition for the European Parliament in order to give its consent to a new Agreement,” Tomas Tobé, the chair of the European Parliament’s development committee, said in a statement.
Perhaps the main new addition is the text on migration which includes new commitments from ACP countries on return and re-admission – an important inclusion for the EU.
“We want to get away from a system (on migration) where Cotonou had vague principles but couldn’t be legally enforced,” said the EU official, a reference to the refusal of African countries to agree to readmit failed migrants, despite having promised to do so in the Cotonou treaty.
If there is no cooperation, the official added, there are ‘proportionate measures’ that can be taken in dispute settlement.
<div class="cms clearfix">
<div class="lightbox-content">As NFU Scotland (NFUS) president Andrew McCornick’s term of office draws to a conclusion, his frustration and anger at the Scottish Government’s lack of leadership at this critical time for Scottish agriculture boiled over in the AgriScot debate with Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing.
In a hard-hitting speech, he called for the Scottish Government to “stop dithering and start delivering”.
“Where is the future policy?” he demanded.
Where is the road map to help Scottish farmers meet the multiple challenges of a Covid-wrecked economy and a climate emergency?
As the president pointed out, Fergus Ewing’s desk is buckling under the number of reports he and industry stakeholders have commissioned into the future path of Scottish agriculture.
Starting with the Pack report, then the Rural Advisers report, the Griggs report, the Rural Champions’ reports and now the Suckler Beef report and the Farming for 1.5 Degrees report.
So many trees cut down and so much carbon released in producing reports and yet most of them are gathering dust on the minister’s shelf.
His response to the NFUS criticism would be laughable if it were not so serious – he announced the setting up of yet another committee called the arable sector climate change review group.
Is it any wonder NFUS are frustrated?
Given the challenges Scottish agriculture faces at this time you would think any politician worth their salt would be champing at the bit to come up with Scottish solutions to tackle the problems farmers are facing.
Yet over the last four years the minister’s track record has been one of inaction and taking the easy option of kicking the can down the road.
He inherited a broken IT system from his predecessor, but despite his many claims that it has been fixed the reality is the £200 million system still can’t deliver farm payments on time.
Instead the Government hands out loans to farmers each year to cover up its complete failure to sort out the IT system.
The EU’s decision to close down Less Favoured Areas (LFA) schemes and switch to Areas of National Constraints (ANC) by 2020 has been well known to the Scottish Government for the last 10 years yet the minister sat on his hands and took no action to head off the threat.
Every country in Europe replaced its LFA schemes with new ANC schemes to protect payments to farmers in their most disadvantaged areas with the sole exception of Scotland.
It is deeply ironic that Brexit, which the Scottish Government is utterly opposed to, has rescued the minister from the embarrassment of having to close the LFA scheme down and end payments to farmers.
Nearly two years ago the first minister claimed we were facing a climate emergency and promised urgent action to reduce carbon emissions by 2030 and make Scotland carbon neutral by 2045.
Scottish agriculture is in the firing line as the third largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland and has faced a barrage of criticism about the impact of livestock farming on the environment.
Naturally farmers are looking to the Scottish Government to provide a roadmap and a plan for how to tackle the crisis.
There is an urgent need to replace the outdated Common Agricultural Policy (Cap) with new farm policies with strong financial incentives to help farmers transition to a more sustainable agriculture.
Given the urgency and the scale of the challenge you would expect the Scottish Government to be working flat out with NFUS and other stakeholders to work up a new Scottish farm policy to tackle the problem.
Instead all the industry is being offered in the months ahead are yet more committees to look at climate change in the pork, dairy and upland sectors and no prospect of a new Scottish farm policy until 2024 at the earliest.
Talk about fiddling while Rome burns.
If you look around at other countries, it is a different story.
In Ireland their livestock based farming industry faces a very similar challenge to Scottish producers but the Irish Government recognised that and published its climate plan for Irish agriculture nearly a year ago, setting out a future road map for the industry.
This week England published its proposals to transition to a new support system by 2024 that will provide substantial financial incentives to drive the transition to a more sustainable agriculture.
Back in July the European Commission published its Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategy setting out challenging targets to make EU agriculture more sustainable. The plans include a 50% cut in pesticides, 50% reduction in antibiotics, 20% reduction in fertilisers and an increase in organic production to 25% of total farmland in the EU by 2030.
All these countries will be well down the road in the transition to a more sustainable agriculture while Scotland is left behind having to play catch up.
I absolutely disagree with Boris Johnson’s view that devolution has been a disaster but there is no doubt that the Scottish Government’s consistent failure to take action is a disaster in the making for Scottish agriculture.
George Lyon is a former MEP. He is a senior consultant for Hume Brophy.
<div class="dct-cta dct-cta--subscribe">
<div class="dct-cta__flex">
<div class="dct-cta__image-wrap"> </div>
<div class="dct-cta__content">
<h3 class="dct-cta__title">Help support quality local journalism … become a digital subscriber to The Press and Journal</h3>
For as little as <strong>£5.99</strong> a month you can access all of our content, including <strong>Premium articles</strong>.
<a class="dct-cta__btn" href="https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/subscribe-web-pack/" rel="nofollow">
<span class="dct-cta__btn-text">Subscribe</span>
</a>
</div>
</div>
<style type="text/css"><![CDATA[
.dct-cta--subscribe {
background-color: #333333;
}
.dct-cta--subscribe .dct-cta__title {
color: #ffffff;
}
.dct-cta--subscribe .dct-cta__content p {
color: #ffffff;
}
.dct-cta--subscribe .dct-cta__btn {
background-color: #005b9c;
color: #ffffff;
}
.dct-cta--subscribe .dct-cta__btn:hover,
.dct-cta--subscribe .dct-cta__btn:focus,
.dct-cta--subscribe .dct-cta__btn:active {
background-color: #ffffff;
color: #005b9c;
}
]]></style>
</div>
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been warned by his own backbenchers against caving in to pressure from the EU on Brexit deal sticking points despite the looming deadline for the transition period, writes the Daily Mail.
Time is fast running out for the negotiating sides, with concerns that the current stalemate in talks might result in a no-deal scenario after 31 December, which will mean that the EU and the UK will have to trade according to the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
However, even as an orderly exit from the bloc is under threat, the die-hard pro-Brexit Tories have reportedly told Johnson that conceding to Brussels on issues such access to UK fishing waters and the concept of a ‘level playing field’ could result in the UK becoming a permanent ‘client state’ of the EU. The level playing field refers to state subsidies and regulatory standards, with Brussels concerned that Britain could cut standards and heavily subsidise its own industries, gaining an unfair advantage.
A fishing boat at work in the English Channel, off the southern coast of England, Saturday Feb. 1, 2020. The fishing industry is predicted to be one of the main subjects for negotiations between the UK and Europe, after the UK left the European Union on Friday.
As for the fishing issue, UK officials are said to be concerned amid reports that the Prime Minister has agreed to defer repatriating up to half of the fishing quotas for several years. This is perceived as a sign that Johnson might renege on his original promises, made to voters during elections in 2019.
The Tories have also been decrying attempts by French President Emmanuel Macron to allegedly pressure EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier to adopt a hardline stance at the talks.
A UK source was cited by the outlet as saying:
“At the start of the week we saw Macron agitating with other EU capitals that they were giving away too much. Then you see Barnier bringing this back and the whole process goes backwards. I think everyone can join the dots. We want a deal but it has to be on the basis that we are a sovereign country again. Some people still seem to be struggling with the concept that we are going to be an independent country setting our own rules. If it stays like that there will be no deal.”
One of the persistent hurdles throughout the rounds of Brexit trade deal negotiations has been fishing, with ex-Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith referring to it as a ‘totemic issue’. Lauding the example of Norway, which sets its own fishing quotas, Smith is reported as saying that the UK needed to start with control over ‘100 percent’.
“We have to be treated like Norway is treated. We’re not looking for an increase, we are looking for control. From there, we negotiate with other countries what access they get. It’s as simple as that,” Sir Iain Duncan Smith was cited by The Telegraph as saying.
Dire warnings that Britain could find itself ‘locked in as a client state’ unless it secured regulatory autonomy – another sticking point at the talks – were issued by Theresa Villiers, the former Environment Secretary. She added that the issue might be used by Brussels as the ‘main means’ by which it could ‘tie us into their laws’.
“There are level playing field agreements in the Canada deal and arbitration mechanisms that are acceptable. But on the other end of the spectrum we are locked in as a client state,” said Villiers.
Some Tories have reportedly been fearing that Boris Johnson might concede to the relentless pressure from Brussels.
“I am very worried that the Prime Minister is about to sign up to something unacceptable. If Boris sells us out on Brexit then he is finished, and I think he knows that,” said Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen.
The developments come as the UK and EU chief negotiators, David Frost and Michel Barnier, announced on Friday that they were putting talks on hold to summon their respective political leaders to take stock. In a joint statement the sides said the conditions for an agreement had still not been met.
PM Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen will be embarking on an emergency meeting Saturday to try and break the stalemate over a post-Brexit trade deal.
Nevertheless, David Frost is said to believe there is little hope for progress unless EU leaders persuade Emmanuel Macron to back down from his relentless stance.
France, Germany at Loggerheads
Amid a desperate scramble to clinch a post-Brexit trade deal, France and Germany have been at loggerheads over whether or not to compromise with the UK.
As ongoing disputes over fishing rights and common standards continued to block any potential breakthrough, the French government did not show any signs of readiness to cede ground.
Furthermore, Michel Barnier was seen as caving to pressure from the French side to make last-minute demands, elevating already-high tensions.
The stalemate comes as the French President has been adamant in his insistence that French trawlers maintain their current access to UK waters. Emmanuel Macron is believed to have demanded a 10-year transition to any reduction in EU fishing access.
However, Downing Street has been regarding the demand as unacceptable, with a senior government official quoted by the Times as saying the proposal is ‘not something that we can agree to or sell’.
On the issue of state aid, Michel Barnier has also called for further concessions from Britain, amid Macron’s determination to protect French firms from UK competition.
European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, right, speaks with the British Prime Minister’s Europe adviser David Frost during the start of the first round of post -Brexit trade talks between the EU and the UK, at EU headquarters in Brussels, Monday, March 2, 2020. Long-awaited trade talks between the EU and Britain kick off Monday amid deep tensions over Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s threat to walk away from the talks if not enough progress is made within four months.
Earlier, tensions soared as France’s Europe minister, Charles Beaune, announced that Paris was prepared to veto a post-Brexit trade deal that went against French interests.
“France is attached to the interests of its fishermen, is attached to the fair business conditions. It’s also the case for our partners that if, if there were a deal that isn’t good, which in our evaluation doesn’t correspond to those interests, we will oppose it. Yes each country has a veto, so it’s possible,” Beaune was cited as saying. Beaune added:
“We owe that to the French people, we owe it to our fishermen, and to other economic sectors.”
However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted the EU needed to cede more ground if it wanted to avoid a no-deal scenario.
Government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said said the bloc should be ready to “compromise”, adding:
“For the Chancellor, and that hasn’t changed for weeks, the willingness to compromise is needed on both sides. If you want to have a deal, both sides need to move towards each other. Everybody has their principles, there are red lines, that’s clear, but there’s always room for compromise.”
In Germany, around 460,000 jobs are linked to exports in Britain, with an estimated 60,000 in the automotive industry, according to a study by the Nuremberg Institute for Employment Research (IAB).
A no deal outcome in the UK’s talks with the EU could deliver a resounding blow to sales and have lasting negative impacts throughout the industry.
Unless Britain and the EU strike an agreement by the time the transition period ends on 31 December, the sides will have to deal with each other on World Trade Organisation terms. This would result in the imposition of tariffs on a wide range of goods. Levies of at least 40 percent could be anticipated on lamb and 10 percent on cars.
On the prospects of further talks, European Council President Charles Michel said:
“We will see what will happen in the next days. But the end of December is the end of December and we know that after 31 December we have 1 January, and we know that we need to have clarity as soon as possible.”
I am in charge of the Volunteer Leader programme for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) which is part of the I Am UNICEF initiative. We have some 22 volunteer leaders in communities across Thailand, who told me that while there is sufficient information and support for parents about COVID-19, there is nothing specifically for children. So, I had the idea of designing and distributing a children’s activity book to teach children about best practices in avoiding COVID-19 while keeping them entertained at home.
The initiative consists of three engagement opportunities; a story for children showing what they need to do to stay safe during the pandemic, a painting or illustration activity with winning designs chosen to illustrate a UNICEF booklet and a challenge to get volunteers to distribute UNICEF COVID-19 information.
At first, we planned to produce only 4,000 copies of the story booklet, but the requests have far exceeded the production quota. The kids love it, which fills my heart with joy. I went to the community to help the emergency response distributing toolkits and supplies to those families in the slum areas. I saw quite a big smile on their faces. Some of them shouted to their neighbour “I got something!” After that, all the kids in the area were standing at their doorstep waiting for us to walk over. There was one little girl who ran to me after I gave her the booklet who said “Can I have one more, please? I have a little brother; he is still very tiny but when he is bigger, I will give it to him”
A few weeks after that we received more feedback from the community. They said that the booklet was effective. Children are learning while coloring the booklet and the content helps parents and caregivers to initiate conversations with them. I have read all the social media posts about the booklet, and my eyes are filled with tears of joy.
UNICEF/Nipattra Wilkes
UNICEF volunteer Rasa Pattikasemkul at work in Khon Kean, in northeastern Thailand.
Role of volunteers “absolutely changed” during pandemic
COVID-19, which is now our main focus, absolutely changed the role of our volunteers. Before the pandemic, we were able to go outside, organize a walk, talk to people, and advocate for children. Now, we have to be more cautious with no unnecessary physical contact between volunteers and children. That’s for the safety of both sides.
Most of our activities now are online. For example, we recruited professional psychologists to volunteer with us to provide counseling sessions for youth who need mental health support.
We also recruited a videographer and editor, to produce an interview with a doctor and psychologist who provided tips and advice on how to cope with the lockdown.
All the UNVs are now working from home. Personally, I don’t think this change is a problem. We have to adapt to it, be flexible and have the right mentality of “nothing can stop you”. We have worked with great team spirit and we were able to launch the three initiatives.
Vulnerable children facing a “wide range of risks”
Even prior to the pandemic, children were vulnerable in our society. Lockdown measures due to COVID-19 have exposed children to a wide range of risks. Many families lost their sources of income so there can be heightened tensions in the household; stressed parents or caregivers, social isolation and increased risk factors for violence at home.
The children I have spoken to are very resilient; Some say it’s good that they get to be with their parents more, some say that they want to go to school and play with their friends.
Acting as “big sister”, following family loss
My little brother died on a rainy day in September 2018. I loved watching him grow up, how he took his first steps; sadly I had to see the place where he took his last steps, as well. Ever since I lost my brother, I have wanted to recapture that feeling of being the big sister again; that is my passion.
As a volunteer, I now have thousands of brothers and sisters who could benefit from my strength, my personal skills and my professional abilities. I think this is my calling, this is my passion. No matter what I do at UNICEF if I could make one child’s life a little bit better. It’s worth everything to me.
Some people take pleasure in making someone’s life a little bit better. I am one of those people.”
After one week of intense trade negotiations in London, the chief Brexit negotiators from the UK and the European Union (EU) have agreed to “pause the talks” due to “significant divergences”.
Releasing identical statements on Friday night, the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost said: “After one week of intense negotiation in London, the two chief negotiators agreed today that the conditions for an agreement are not met, due to significant divergences on level playing field, governance and fisheries.
“On this basis, they agreed to pause the talks in order to brief their principals on the state of play of the negotiations.”
If an agreement is reached it will need to be turned into legal text and translated into all EU languages and ratified by the European Parliament, the BBC reported.
The UK government is likely to introduce legislation implementing parts of any deal reached which MPs will be able to vote on.
The 27 EU national parliaments could also need to ratify an agreement depending on the actual contents of the deal.
In a bid to break the impasse, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson “will discuss the state of play” on Saturday.
The UK and the EU resumed face-to-face talks in London on November 28 after an EU negotiator tested positive for coronavirus earlier last month.
The negotiations are at a crucial stage as time is running out for both sides to secure a deal before the Brexit transition period expires on December 31.
Failure to reach a free trade agreement with the EU means bilateral trade will fall back on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules in 2021.
The UK and the EU had started their lengthy and bumpy post-Brexit talks in March after the country formally ended its membership with the bloc on January 31.
Ahead of World Soil Day, marked on 5 December, FAO launched its first ever report on “The State of Knowledge of Soil Biodiversity“. The report examines the potential of soil organisms in ensuring sustainable agri-food systems and mitigating climate change.
“Soil biodiversity and sustainable soil management is a prerequisite for the achievement of many of the Sustainable Development Goals“, said FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo. “Therefore, data and information on soil biodiversity, from the national to the global level, are necessary in order to efficiently plan management strategies on a subject that is still poorly known”, she added.
According to the report, despite the fact biodiversity loss is at the forefront of global concerns, biodiversity below ground is not being given the prominence it deserves and needs to be fully considered when planning how best to boost sustainable development.
“We hope that the knowledge contained in this report will facilitate the assessment of the state of soil biodiversity as an integral part of national- and regional-level biodiversity reporting and any soil surveys”, Ms. Semedo advanced.
Being one of the main ‘global reservoirs’ of biodiversity, soils host more than 25 percent of the world’s biological diversity. In addition, more than 40 percent of living organisms in terrestrial ecosystems are associated with soils during their life cycle.
The report defines soil biodiversity as the variety of life belowground, from genes and animal species, to the communities they form, as well as the ecological complexes to which they contribute and to which they belong; from soil micro-habitats to landscapes.
These include a wide range of organisms, from unicellular and microscopic forms, to invertebrates such as nematodes, earthworms, arthropods and their larval stages, as well as mammals, reptiles, and amphibians that spend a large part of their life belowground, and a great diversity of algae and fungi.
Keep soil alive, protect biodiversity
Plants nurture a whole world of creatures in the soil, FAO notes, that in return feed and protect the plants. It is this diverse community of living organisms that keeps the soil healthy and fertile, which constitutes soil biodiversity, and determines the main biogeochemical processes that make life possible on Earth.
This year, by addressing the increasing challenges of soil management, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) campaign “Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity” aims to raise awareness of the importance of sustaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being. By encouraging people around the world to engage in proactively improving soil health, the campaign also aims to fight soil biodiversity loss.
Threats to soil biodiversity
Although soils are essential for human well-being and the sustainability of life on the planet, they are threatened by human activity, climate change and natural disasters.
The overuse and misuse of agrochemicals remains one of the major drivers to soil biodiversity loss, thus reducing the potential of soil biodiversity for a sustainable agriculture and food security.
Other threats include deforestation, urbanization, soil structure degradation, soil acidification, pollution, wildfires, erosion, and landslides, among other issues, the agency alerts.
Soils and climate action
Nature-based solutions involving soil microorganisms have a significant potential to mitigate climate change. They play a key role in carbon sequestration and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The report also found that farming activities are the biggest source of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide gases emitted by soils, which derive from the overuse or misuse of nitrogen-containing fertilizers.
Future steps
Generally, there is a lack of detailed data, policies and actions on soil biodiversity at local, national, regional, and global levels.
The report highlighted the need to promote the necessary shift to include biological indicators of soil health along with physical and chemical ones.
According to the report, the adoption of sustainable soil management practices by farmers, as a basic premise for preserving soil biodiversity, remains low due to the lack of technical support, provision of incentives and enabling environments, and needs to be scaled up.
(RNS) — This week, the University of Vermont announced that it is eliminating two dozen academic programs, including its entire religion department. This comes as a surprise, given the caliber and credentials of the department’s faculty; in addition to being prolific scholars, they are regular recipients of grants, awards and fellowships for teaching and research.
The real shock of UVM’s announcement is its timing: devaluing of religion after an election cycle in which the president’s spiritual adviser called for African angels to intervene on election results, when our president-elect ran on restoring the “soul of our nation,” when the Supreme Court is busy reappraising the establishment clause and the outgoing secretary of state has sought to redefine religious freedom.
Even more troubling is that this is not an isolated incident; the University of Vermont’s proposal comports with a larger pattern of cutting religion programs in academic institutions.
Teaching about religion is not just about understanding politics. It’s also about creating cultural literacy, ensuring that our young people are familiar with the diverse people they meet on the street. University brass often refers to this kind of literacy as a civic good, but as a brown-skinned, turban-wearing, beard-loving man in Donald Trump’s America, I submit that people knowing who I am and having an appreciation for my religious heritage can mean the difference between life and death.
Think about it from the perspective of those who are minoritized: By stripping away our commitment to religious diversity, we are actually making our communities less safe.
At a moment when everyone is clamoring for more resources devoted to diversity, equity and inclusion, why would an institution take away resources that already exist and are not easy to replace?
The University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. Photo by Michelle Maria/Creative Commons
The counterargument goes that cutting programs like these is purely business: The departments don’t bring in enough majors and therefore don’t serve the university’s bottom line.
We have spent the better part of the past few decades thinking of our educations as pathways to professional careers. Look what has happened to our society in the process. We may have a more polished workforce, but at what cost? There’s nothing wrong with going to college to get a well-paying job. But what are our educational institutions doing to shape our moral and ethical outlooks?
What expanded my mind in college, more than anything else, was coming to terms with the reality that my way wasn’t the only way, or the best way. Learning about others’ faiths and cultures challenges our self-centered chauvinism and helps us meet others where they are.
When done right, the work of the humanities is the work of anti-racism. If this sounds limiting, let me put it this way: It’s the work of undercutting assumptions and stereotypes about the people around us and bringing nuance to our perspectives, so that we stop seeing in black and white and begin seeing the richness of our human experiences.
It also, I might add, makes business sense. In this moment when corporations and institutions are leaning into diversity and inclusion and equity, some still see religion outside of this scope. I have consulted with corporations long enough to see that there is a discomfort with religion. Of the traditional categories represented in diversity and inclusion work — race, gender, religion, sexual orientation — religion is often overlooked and neglected. Organizations are often uncomfortable talking about religion for fear of doing it wrong.
Public universities, meanwhile, often worry about the separation of church and state. But this concern belies a fundamental misunderstanding of what a religion scholar actually does. While many worry about being accused of proselytizing, religion scholars aim to understand historical developments in context. We’re scholars with an interest in religion; not in imposing our views on religion.
Take from me, a practicing Sikh who has spent a majority of his academic career teaching Islamic studies and Buddhist history. I wish that I had a penny for every time someone asked me how I could teach a religion other than my own. They don’t understand that I’m not in it to seek conversions; I’m in it to open hearts and minds and to help people grapple with the beautiful diversity of our world.
If we want our kids to grow up to appreciate people from all the various backgrounds they will encounter in their lives, we must first equip them with the appropriate knowledge. To not do so, to tell them that understanding faith is not important, is setting them up for failure.
