Daily Archives: June 1, 2020

Indeed, the state violence faced by the Persian center during the suppression of sporadic uprisings is an everyday reality for ethnic and religious minorities throughout Iran. As Iranian lawyer Gissou Nia has pointed out, many commentators based in the West, especially diaspora Persians, tend to severely misjudge anti-government protests in Iran because they fail to amplify or even listen to the voices of minorities that make up the backbone of current revolutionary movements. The projection of the urbanized Persian center as being representative of Iran is only solidified by media outlets who assume interviewing Persian-Americans alone is enough of a perspective on envisioning Iran and how to engage with the Iranian state. After all, when was the last time an Iranian Lur or Ahwazi was given a global platform to voice their opinion on Irans regime or western foreign policy towards Iran? How can non-recognized religious minorities such as Bahais or Sikhs speak globally from within a state that affords them no protections?

There is a unique set of consequences for minorities who speak out their grievances with the state, for anything said can be treated with the gravity of a national security threat. As the Iranian economy fails to provide for the non-elite and non-central populations, more revolutionary movements are sparked and quashed through targeted efforts to disenfranchise minorities. Any form of supposed connection to a militant group in Iran becomes grounds for execution. According to reports gathered by Iran Human Rights (IHR) between 2010 and 2018, among the 118 people who have been executed for affiliation with banned political and militant groups, there were 65 Kurds (55%), 29 Baluchis (25%) and 15 Arabs (13%), most of whom were Sunni Muslims in addition to being ethnic minorities.

The torture of imprisoned minorities in Iran is especially gruesome and sobering. Labor activist Sepideh Gholian, arrested for a notable strike in the southern province of Khuzestan, spoke out upon her temporary release on the torture of hundreds of Ahwazi women forced to confess that their husbands were members of Daesh (ISIS). The escalation of violence against Ahwazis in Khuzestan has gone hand in hand with increased interest in development projects in the resource-rich province, often displacing Ahwazis for projects that divert natural resources back to Tehran and other urban areas of the Persian-speaking center. In Irans November uprisings, at least 100 Ahwazi demonstrators were killed and 2,500 imprisoned. Ahwazis are regularly imprisoned under fabricated ties to international terror, often without any public acknowledgement. Baluchis also face torture and forced confession of association with militant groups such as Jundallah. This April, Baluchi prisoner Abdulvaset Dahani was executed in Zahedans Central Prison after writing to the world on experiences of torture and forced confession:

They tied my hands and suspended me from the ceiling. They subjected me to grilled chicken torture. They hit on the soles of my feet with a cable burned it with atomic lighters.

In March of 2020, when the Iranian government responded to hunger strikes and prison rebellions by selectively releasing prisoners during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, prisoners in Tehran were prioritized, and therefore ethnic minorities were far less likely to see freedom. No prisoner with national security threat listed on their charge sheet was eligible for release, a restriction which severely narrows the number of prisoners in Iran from lenient treatment and effectively bars ethnic minorities from release. While international praise for this selective release of prisoners ran high, the state nonetheless executed prisoners at an even higher rate than usual. Within ten days of April, 25 executions were recorded.

Religious minorities are likewise at risk of being accused of having dual loyalties. Jewish and Bahai Iranians are denigrated by propaganda that associates them with Zionism and the State of Israel. This accusation naturally leads to an atmosphere of fear, as Iranian Jews have family ties in Israel and the headquarters of the Bahai faith are in Haifa. Likewise, only a subset of the small Sikh minority in Iran have been able to receive Iranian passports despite living in the country for generations. Cremation is illegal in Iran, and the Sikh minority faces dangerous backlash for their practice. For years, the only place Sikhs have been able to legally engage in their funeral rites is at a cremation site hidden within the Indian embassy grounds in Tehran, a 24 hour train ride from the historic Sikh population center of Zahedan. Armenians also struggle with the image of being perpetual foreigners despite being present in the region for over a thousand years. Churches are monitored by the police, as any utterance or distribution of materials on Christianity in the Persian language is grounds for arrest.

Tests of ideology hinder opportunities for religious minorities beyond the realm of their religious practice. Exams legally implemented by the Islamic Republic to prove ones loyalty to the state religion prevent people from exercising complete citizenship rights. One cannot work in the public sector in Iran, for example, without passing examinations that prove loyalty to the state-sanctioned, Khomeinist version of Shia Islam. Theoretically recognized religious minorities (Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians) may work in lower-rank positions should they pass an examination, but the segregation of the education system bars candidates from having the requisite familiarity with Islam to realistically pass. Furthermore, there has been a massive push by the regime to allocate and prioritize more positions for members of the Basij, Irans voluntary paramilitary organization, which staunchly adheres to Khomeinism.

In the realm of higher education, recognized religious minorities are consistently at odds with the efforts to Islamize any aspect of the university. Moreover, non-recognized religious minorities such as Bahais are officially forbidden from higher education. The underground universities run by the Bahai community face the constant threat of raids, arrests, and even execution for their work. Perhaps the most telling example of Irans stance towards the human value of non-recognized religious minorities can be seen through the qisas system or retaliation in kind. Retaliation of violence is allowed by a victims family, unless the victims family forgives the perpetrator or accepts a deal through blood money. However, if a Muslim kills a member of an non-recognized religious minority, there is no qisas requirement. In fact, no punishment is specified, giving judges the right to pursue no consequences for the murder of a non-recognized religious minority, even if the perpetrator is found guilty of a willful crime. The murder of Bahais is effectively permissible in Iran.

Afghan refugees are another vulnerable group that can legally be treated as subhuman. Irans population is estimated to be 82 million and there are up to 4 million Afghan refugees living in the country, yet 27 out of 31 provinces have partial or complete bans on the residence of Afghans. This cruel legislation is ironically most enforced in border regions across the country. Some provinces such as Sistan-Baluchistan which sits at the tri-border between Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, allow Afghans to reside in urban areas, such as the capital of Zahedan, but not in the rest of the province. This prevents Afghans from moving freely and seeking opportunities for livelihoods. Each year the Iranian government chips away at opportunities to seek asylum or refugee status, and provides no legal recourse to those sentenced to deportation. Afghan children are often channeled into modern-day slavery and families are forced to pay exorbitant sums to be transported between locations or to live in unsanitary camps. Human Rights Watch has released several reports on Afghan child soldiers being sent to Syria by Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (the IRGC) as well.

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No country for minorities: the inequality of state repression in Iran - Open Democracy

Two regional art organisations, the Arab Fund For Arts and Culture (Afac) and Culture Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy), have launched an emergency fund of more than $1 million (Dh3.67 million) to support Lebanons struggling arts sector.

The organisations, both headquartered in Beirut, made the announcement as the country sinks deeper into its worst-ever economic crisis, compounded by the coronavirus pandemic.

We see this year as a turning point in the lives of [struggling arts] organisations, said Rima Mismar, Afacs executive director. We want to give them a bit of support to avoid any immediate crash just because they do not have access to their [bank] accounts or cannot carry on with their activities.

Helena Nassif, managing director of Culture Resource, added that the current economic crisis posed a threat to a number of organisations.

At the risk of sounding cheesy, every crisis has two sides to it

Rima Mismar, executive director of Afac

Lebanese banks restricted access to cash in American dollars after nationwide anti-government protests erupted last October, bringing the activities of many organisations, artistic or otherwise, to a halt as the value of the local currency plummeted.

As a result, a lot of artists or cultural practitioners would either need to leave the sector or leave the country, Nassif said.

To be eligible for a one-time grant via the solidarity fund, which is sponsored by the US Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation, organisations must be at least two years old and have a track record of proven social engagement with local communities.

Though they do not have to be headed by artists of Lebanese nationality, they must be based in the country. Depending on the jurys assessment, up to 16 structures will receive between $20,000 and $80,000 each. The deadline for applications is Monday, June 15.

This is the first fund set up collaboratively by the two organisations, which have been co-ordinating closely since Culture Resource moved its headquarters from Cairo to Beirut in 2017.

It felt natural. We want to extend our support and solidarity to the arts and culture sector as two regional organisations, as well as stand in solidarity with each other, said Mismar.

The grants can be spent on whatever the winning organisations deem necessary, from staff salaries and rent to collaborations.

We do not expect these organisations, at this point in time, to actually have a full strategy or vision on how they will adapt to the situation, said Mismar. We were more sensitive to the fact that they need time and some resources to be able to sit together, think and reflect on their mission and their engagement with their communities.

Both Mismar and Nassif are optimistic, however, that disruptions caused by Covid-19 and the economic crisis represent a moment of opportunity for the arts sector.

At the risk of sounding cheesy, every crisis has two sides to it. There are definitely challenges and negative impacts. At the same time, it does somehow open a moment to think of things differently. This is where aligning immediate needs with longer-term strategies needs to be balanced well, said Mismar.

The same kind of questions that were raised in Lebanon last October and November are now discussed elsewhere in the world [about] the value system we carry and the role of the arts in contributing to creating and imagining a better or different kind of society, said Nassif. The moment of questioning we had in Lebanon is now global.

Lebanons arts and culture scene also contributes significantly to the local economy, Nassif adds. Its important to think of this sector as productive. Its not a bunch of artists in a bubble, she said.

Lebanons cultural sector represents 5 per cent of the countrys GDP, or $1 billion and 6,000 companies, the director of the French Cultural Institute in Beirut, Veronique Aulagnon, told local newspaper LOrient-Le Jour on Friday.

The moment of questioning we had in Lebanon is now global

Helena Nassif, managing director of Culture Resource

Individual artists are excluded from the solidarity fund but both Afac and Culture Resource support them separately on a regional level.

On Tuesday, June 2, Afac will launch a scheme to sponsor up to 150 artists with $3,000 each while they stay at home.

In mid-May, Culture Resource added a specific Covid-19 component to a pre-existing programme, Stand For Art, that gives grants to artists at risk. The initiative, which targets artists experiencing hardships as a consequence of Covid-19, will be re-assessed later in 2020 based on how the pandemic develops.

For more information about the solidarity fund, visit arabculturefund.org

Updated: May 30, 2020 05:40 PM

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'This year is a turning point': More than $1 million available for Lebanons struggling arts and culture organisations - The National

Humans are now experts in consumption and deem excess consumption a right derived from financial freedom.

How did we reach this point in time where consumerism dictates our attitude towards each other, our appetite for debt, our perceptions of what is important, and our disregard for what lies ahead. How is it that we are willing to buy a product that we know will only last for a limited time without the option to repair it? How is it that we dont care where the materials come from which are found in that product, nor care where the materials go when we are done with it?

Certain groups of people have been deemed as greenies for standing up for the environment, being ridiculed for making our lives a little less comfortable by trying to change our behaviour towards the way we consume.

Being a Circular Economy activist comes with many challenges. Telling people about a different way of doing things is one of those challenges. Lets walk more and drive less; lets start our own food gardens; lets compost our food waste; lets only buy products that are local; lets avoid plastics; lets plant more trees.

Yet the time is upon us where these actions are no longer connected with activism, but are essential for our well being and our species future survival on earth.

The way forward for the global economy will not be based on how things were done recently. We need to look further back to a time when we produced our own food, products were manufactured to last a lifetime, and if something went wrong it was fixable. We need to become more resource-aware again. It really is a no-brainer when we are not wasting resources, and products we use retain their value for longer.

This is the essence of the Circular Economy. It is not a philosophy; its a cross-sectoral way of doing things that benefits society, our environment, and crucially, our economy. The way forward is human-centric and comes from a combination of our past values with current, and future technology developments and opportunities.

This is the first of a ten-part series on what the Circular Economy is, and what we can do to become active in this space, whether as individuals, groups, or institutions. For further reading visit The African Circular Economy Network and The Ellen Mcarthur Foundation.

This content has been created as part of our freelancer relief programme. We are supporting journalists and freelance writers impacted by the economic slowdown caused by #lockdownlife.

If you are a freelancer looking to contribute to The South African,read more here.

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What is a Circular Economy, and how does it look in 2020? - The South African

One of the core narratives of Bitcoin (BTC) since inception is the oft-stated goal of separating money and state. While this has certainly been a powerful creed in the currencys early adoption by the crypto-anarchist and techno-libertarian communities, what does this actually mean? Its quite simply a call for a neutral form of money.

When stripped of the more political messaging, Bitcoin is fundamentally the introduction of a credibly neutral, global system of value transfer that is open and permissionless yet cryptographically secure and verifiable. This burgeoning crypto economy is still relatively early in its development, yet in the ten-plus years since its launch, it has fundamentally shifted the discourse around what money could or ought to become in the future.

Bitcoins third halving on May 11, a 50% reduction in the BTC block subsidy that rewards miners for validating transactions and securing the network, represents a clear distinction between fiat monetary systems governed by whim and crypto monetary systems executed through software. A global crisis such as the one were facing now is a crucible for any monetary system, often showing what the priorities of the powers that be are.

The unlimited ability to print money in the fiat world operates in stark contrast to Bitcoin periodically reducing the issuance through an immutable monetary policy. The Bitcoin halving in the context of the pandemic provided an interesting starting point in discussing the core difference between the fiat and crypto paradigms and the distribution of power in both.

The predominant monetary systems of the world are fiat systems that are backed by the sovereign entity of the state through arbitrary decree. Such currencies have value because the state enforces their use as a medium of exchange, store of value and unit of account: the three qualities of money. The most obvious evidence of this enforcement is that the state requires taxes to be paid in the national currency.

This relationship between state authorities and money goes back hundreds of years to when governments and empires would stamp the visage of the current ruler of the territory into the hard metal currency. Today, fiat money takes the form of printed pieces of paper issued by a central mint overseen by a state department. This money is backed by the state rather than any commodity.

The United States used to operate on a gold standard, with bank notes backed and redeemable for precious metal reserves, but the mass capital flight to a secure store of value in gold during the Great Depression prompted the government to untether the dollar from the underlying commodity. The systemic challenges of a monetary system based on gold would have inevitably led to the state further abstracting the connection to the underlying resource to the point where the scaffolding would have become the building, in a sense. In short, fiat currency can be seen as a technical response in simplifying the management of money at great scale.

There is a multitude of fiat currencies circulating throughout the global economy, but only one has achieved hegemonic status: the U.S. dollar. Following the end of World War II, an agreement established the dollar as the global reserve currency. Even though the agreement implied that the dollar would be backed by gold and thus ended when the gold standard was abandoned outright during the Nixon administration, organizations like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were formed to maintain a neutral, international monetary system with the dollar at the center.

As the government is able to print pieces of paper backed by nothing but the power afforded to it by itself, people place a lot of trust and responsibility in the government to properly oversee the mint and avoid economic instability. If a government prints too much money, inflation occurs, sharply devaluing the value of the money in the economy. Some governments have severely mismanaged the money supply, leading to hyperinflation where the volatility for the price of a countrys currency against other global currencies starts to decrease rapidly, eventually becoming more valuable as kindling or paper-mache than a reliable medium of exchange.

Does this make the state a boogeyman that chains the populace into arbitrary financial systems that it cant opt out of? There are certainly many proponents of Bitcoin that would support that claim, but lets look at the larger pattern. The reason why state-managed currencies gained prominence is because people agreed to the unwritten social contract behind the money, entrusting the state to manage the complexities of such a system. This issue of trust is paramount and is essential to understanding what Bitcoin brings to the table.

While fiat monetary systems feature monetary policies highly subject to what the lawmakers believe is necessary, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are decentralized, autonomous monetary systems with rules hardcoded from their launch. Programmable, predictable and trust-minimized from day one, cryptocurrencies are radical experiments in value creation and distribution enforced through an unrivaled display of digital certainty.

Bitcoins monetary policy is unique in that it is executable through open-source software rather than a central mint overseen by treasurers and politicians. Its core features include a capped supply of 21 million BTC, around 10-minute block times, an incentivized issuance mechanism for minting BTC and an adaptive mining difficulty to maintain this economic clock.

A critical part of Bitcoins monetary policy, the halving, is a periodic change to the BTC supply schedule that occurs every 210,000 blocks, or roughly every four years. This preprogrammed, automatic deflationary measure is unprecedented in the history of money and presents a stark contrast to the dominant fiat systems of the world.

These protocol design choices, combined with novel economic incentives and cryptographic security, allow Bitcoin to uphold four core attributes: resistance to confiscation, resistance to censorship, resistance to counterfeiting and resistance to inflation. Or to put it simply, resistance to the very failings that have beset monetary systems past and present.

So, where does this place Bitcoin in relation to fiat currencies? While many narratives have waxed and waned over the years electronic cash, End the Fed, digital gold, bank the unbanked, etc. the most relevant one at the time of writing and perhaps moving forward is the notion of money neutrality.

The subject of money neutrality is enfolded in a much larger discourse on the distribution of power in society. The circulation of currency indicates the overall health of the economy and its inhabitants. If resources such as currency are not widespread or accessible in different strata of society, pathologies develop much like disrupted blood flow in a human body.

The true crucible for complex systems such as money or the economy is how they adapt to crises. The sudden arrival of crises unprecedented or severely ignored tends to reveal the inherent weaknesses within our infrastructure and where the priorities of the powers that be truly lie.

Within a few months, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has incapacitated entire economies, supply chains and various systems that support peoples health and well-being. Much of the core infrastructure of society has been and will be disrupted by the first- and second-order effects of the virus.

In times of crisis, such as an oncoming recession or potential risk of inflation, governments will implement a monetary policy known as quantitative easing, or QE, in which the central bank prints a large amount of money and injects said money into the economy by buying financial instruments such as stocks, bonds and others. While the goal is to keep the economy afloat by maintaining target inflation levels, ensuring the stability of the monetary system and securing citizens trust in the currency, it can result in increased inflation and distrust in the currency, even making cryptocurrencies appear a viable alternative to investors and the populace alike.

A large portion of the U.S. governments multitrillion-dollar stimulus package is using QE to combat the precipitous drop in the market. In doing so, the government is favoring large corporations over small to medium-sized businesses which have limited loan programs and the millions of individuals and families adversely affected by the pandemic set to receive a single $1,200 check (at the time of writing). Why does it appear that the government is prioritizing keeping banks and corporations afloat, printing trillions of dollars to do so, rather than ensuring the well-being of its citizens first and foremost?

To no small degree, the weaknesses and contrivances of the legacy financial system are a system design problem. A particularly useful framework for understanding how the situation came to be is the Cantillon effect, an 18th-century theory developed by French banker and philosopher Richard Cantillon that states the printing and distribution of money and wealth in society often follows a top-down hierarchy of institutions before reaching the common people.

The financial systems and intermediaries at the top of the pyramid in closer proximity to the rulers operate better than the disjointed and inefficient systems further down the chain. Thus the rich have initial access to new money by design, with the value eventually trickling down to everyone else over time something that many do not have. This is an easily observable phenomenon of a legacy financial system that favors Wall Street over Main Street.

While fiat systems are subject to full control by their overseers, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are governed entirely by the execution of software that is itself rooted in high mathematical certainty. While fiat systems as implemented by the U.S. government are showing considerable strain and favoritism in the midst of a global crisis, the economic clock of Bitcoin is ticking without interruption in a series of predetermined protocol upgrades of its supply schedule based not on a whim but by programmable design since launch.

Bitcoin halving is the antithesis of the quantitative easing monetary policy of the fiat world. Rather than rapidly increasing the supply of money, Bitcoins monetary policy reduces the issuance of the BTC currency in set intervals of time in a process some have called quantitative hardening or quantitative tightening. The entire ecosystem of stakeholders in the Bitcoin space the miners, traders and holders have to adapt to the rules of this software, never the other way around.

However, there are some considerations to make in assessing the distribution of power in the Bitcoin network and its neutrality. Firstly, if we analyze Bitcoin through the lens of the Cantillon Effect, we can indeed see a hierarchical distribution of value in motion. While the network is distributed and decentralized, as opposed to the fiat system with a literal central bank, the issuance of Bitcoin goes through certain intermediaries before it can circulate freely: the miners.

The block subsidy is not only the economic incentive for miners to allocate considerable resources in securing the network but also the minting process for the currency itself. The first new Bitcoin in existence is held by miners as they compete to solve the proof-of-work algorithm. While the sell rate varies according to business models, operating expenses, capital expenditure costs and so on, Bitcoin does not circulate until miners sell it into the open market, which is in turn rife with speculation.

Miners are theoretically the only entities capable of compromising the network through collusion with over 50% of the hash power. While there are strong economic incentives in place to prevent this from happening, it is important to acknowledge that the distribution of power in a literal sense as well vastly favors these particular actors in the network.

Also, one can point out that having an absolutely immutable monetary policy can produce complications down the line. Certainty and determinacy are unique and powerful features of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but this does not protect the system from unpredictable volatilities and distortions in the future.

For example, in the field of chaos theory, there is the notion that seemingly deterministic systems can shift to disorder or chaos because they are highly sensitive to their state of initial conditions. In the context of Bitcoin, the proof-of-work model could perhaps lead to further consolidation and monopolization of the network such that its decentralization and distribution is minimized to a cartel of industry players. Furthermore, the pyramidal distribution of wealth in the crypto ecosystem may also repeat the sins of fiat.

An advantage of an open-source financial system is that such discourse around Bitcoins resilience can enrich and influence its ongoing development. While it may not adapt fast, it will ultimately do so through a global consensus.

Is Bitcoin a perfectly neutral monetary system? Not yet. It is, however, the crest of a powerful techno-social movement that aims to build credibly neutral systems that support lives and well-being. In an age of uncertainty, a monetary system owned and maintained in common by a global network of peers and bound by a shared set of rules could become increasingly attractive as the cracks begin to show within the legacy structures to which humanity has become accustomed.

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Crypto and Fiat Currencies Are Worlds Apart, Here Are the Reasons Why - Cointelegraph

As the clothing industry went into lockdown, factories were shuttered, huge fashion brands cancelled orders, their warehouses full and nowhere to put new stock, which now sits in containers on wharves.

Jimmy D design studio James Dobson & Bernadette Casey Photo: Bernadette Casey

Some brands even refused to pay for orders or demanded a discount, according to the Workers Rights Consortium, which monitors factories worldwide.

In Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, millions of garment makers have lost their income and the United Nations is now trying to prevent a humanitarian crisis. The process of recycling waste fabric has also come to a halt.

A Wellington research and development company is looking at long-term solutions to the life of garments to combat the global issue, and the world has its sights on New Zealand too.

The Formary co-founder, Bernadette Casey, told Karyn Hay that New Zealand was the ideal place to test system changes as a small country and there had been a lot of interest from overseas in their trial projects.

Their projects will be presented to the Western Australian government, in London at global fashion conference, and even France, Casey said.

But it was the countries that relied heavily on the textile industry that were overexposed to the impacts from Covid-19, she said.

Labourers wearing facemasks work in a garment factory during a government-imposed lockdown as a preventative measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus in Asulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka on April 7, 2020. Photo: Munir Uz Zaman / AFP

For example, in Bangladesh about 4 million people work in textile, which accounts for about 80 percent of the country's exports, she said.

"When there's a problem within the industry, it's just catastrophe for the whole economy and country. So places like Sri Lanka and Cambodia, [textile is] about 50 percent of exports ... it's just turned into this absolute humanitarian crisis."

The companies that employ these labourers tend to already pay low wages, have no tax to pay, and be in already indebted countries, meaning the likelihood of a government bailout was low, she said.

"So the companies that produce there, they really have to step up because there's no safety net for these people. So if you're going to produce in these low cut centres, you really got to make sure you're doing more than just paying wages.

"There are sustainability initiatives but they're all sort of cherry picked and so when the industry is under pressure they can just turn and walk away, and we've seen the abandonment of whole supply teams."

Typically what happens is places like China, Cambodia and Vietnam send garments made in their factories to the West, where after use and disposal in US and Europe get sent off to Sub-Sahara Africa. Whereas most of the clothes from New Zealand's get shipped off to Papua New Guinea.

"We export over $10 million worth of clothes every year at like 10 cents a kilo," Casey said.

Then rag traders try to sell what they can, and the rest of it gets dumped.

"So that's an environmental problem, because they're such a small margin, they don't send them to landfill, they just get dumped on the side of the road. Then you've got the leeching of the chemicals and dyes and etc," Casey said.

"So we are outsourcing our waste to regions that have less capability to deal with it than we do."

One of the solutions The Formary is putting forward is a digital platform called Usefully with a takeback scheme, where a garment is resold, or sorted, mended, reengineered and made into new garments or products.

"The first thing we did to get oversight of what comes into the country is to develop this platform, [clothing companies] register your garments on, and then you have full oversight over them through when they're being decommissioned and what happens to them, how they're being reused and then you can calculate the environment impacts and the financial impact. So you just have better resource management."

The best option would be for garments to be resold if they are reusable, Casey said, considering the resources that went into producing them. For example a pair of jeans takes about 10,000 litres of water just to make them.

"Then they kind of work their way down this hierarchy to where they're no longer usable or wearable. So we do the research and development around what we can do around these textile resources, what are the products they can go back into, and how can we really extend their value."

The Formary has done a trial with Wellington Zoo for a decommissioning of their zookeepers' uniform, where they were debranded and turned into other products. Casey said that saved about 800,000 litres of water and a "huge amount of carbon".

"Wellington Zoo took that project or case study to the world zoos and aquariums, and it now forms their sustainability for zoos and aquariums worldwide as best practice."

One of the next things they are working on is a product stewardship scheme, where people pay a little extra for the management of the end of life of garments.

"It helps to pay for all the technologies that are needed to complete the system, there's great technologies like fibre-to-fibre, which we tested with Air New Zealand uniforms," Casey said.

"We took the koru dresses and because they're made of polyester, we put them through this process of green chemistry, [which] breaks it down to its molecular parts, and then it can be re-extruded as a filaments. I like to make more polyester garments [from it], or it can be used in any plastic-based industry, you can make it into furniture, or glasses' frames, or you can make it into any number of things."

The Formary is now building a business case to bring that technology onshore.

Excerpt from:

Bernadette Casey: Changing the way we think about clothes - RNZ

Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

The Ministry of Finance, MoF, issued three new decisions for federal entities across the UAE, as part of its remit to revise and reduce federal fees.

These decisions are: Cabinet Resolution No. (36) of 2020 on registering suppliers in the Federal Supplier Register, Cabinet Resolution No. (37) of 2020 on amending certain provisions of Cabinet Resolution No. (4) of 2019 on Procurement Regulation and Storehouse Management in Federal Government, and Cabinet Resolution No. (38) of 2020 on amending Cabinet Resolution No. (4) of 2015 on Fees for services provided by the Ministry of Infrastructure Development.

The decisions are part of the ministrys efforts to boost the national economy and stimulate the countrys business environment.

Commenting on this, Younis Haji Al Khouri, Undersecretary of MoF, said that the move is in adherence with the directives of the wise leadership to reduce fees, and provide incentives to investors and companies operating in the country. This is to enhance the national economy and enable business growth and achieve economic balance in the country, especially in light of the repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic.

He said: The Ministry of Finance coordinates its efforts with all relevant federal ministries to review government fees that could be abolished or reduced. This is based on in-depth studies and benchmarks set to enhance the attractiveness of the national economy to investors and to reduce the cost of doing business, to strengthen the nations standing in global competitiveness indicators, in line with the goals of UAE Vision 2021.

The decisions included: reduction of fees of Registering suppliers in the Federal Supplier Register at MoF and the Ministry of Infrastructure Development by 50 per cent from Dhs1,000 to Dhs500, as well as cancellation of registration renewal fees.

Furthermore, MoF has modified Procurement Regulation and Storehouse Management in Federal Government, by cancelling fees for selling tender documents in federal entities (ministries and authorities). These decisions will be effective upon their publication in the Official Gazette.

The Ministry of Finance virtually held the Financial Policy Coordination Councils second meeting recently.

Younis Haji Al Khoori, Undersecretary of MoF and Chairman of the Council chaired the meeting, alongside Saeed Rashid Al Yateem, Assistant Undersecretary of Resources and Budget Sector and Vice-President of the Council.

Al Khoori underscored the importance of the meeting, which was in light of the unprecedented circumstances the world is experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He highlighted the efforts made by members and representatives of financial departments and the Central Bank to deal effectively with the challenges posed by the pandemic.

He said, The Council seeks to find solutions that contribute to facing the economic challenges of the current crisis and to prepare for the requirements of the next stage. This will be done in a manner that ensures the integrity of the financial system in the country and enhances the efficiency of the governments financial work.

During the meeting, the Council reviewed the latest developments on the requirements for exchanging information for tax purposes. The participants also shared success stories related to the MoFs Federal Automated Revenue Estimation System, and reviewed the research and development expenditure projects, as well as the data collection process.

Furthermore, the Cabinet Resolution No. (1/7) of 2020 on preparing for the post-COVID-19 era was discussed. Additionally, the implementation of the previous meetings recommendations were reviewed. The Central Bank also gave a presentation on vital monetary and banking developments in the country.

Three such meetings are held annually, and the Council is reconstituted every three years. The Government Financial Policy Coordination Council was formed by the UAE Cabinets decision No. 39 in 2008. Its members consist of the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, representatives from local UAE governments and a representative of the UAE Central Bank.

MoF has also announced recently the launch of the Federal Automated Revenue Estimation System, FARES, as part of its strategy to further enhance government operations in order to advance digital transformation in the country.

The system will automate the ministrys revenue estimations model and further improve integration of data to calculate estimates based on statistical and accounting standards.

Saeed Rashid Al Yateem, Assistant Undersecretary of Resource and Budget Sector, pointed out the importance FARES, which coincides with the revenue cycle of 2022-2026. The Ministry of Finance is preparing for the next cycle with the end of the current one being at the end of 2021.

Al Yateem reaffirmed the ministrys efforts to enhance financial technologies and launch new digital initiatives that bolster the UAE Vision 2021, as well as the goals of the UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031.

He said, MoF embraces the latest technological solutions, including AI to prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We are on course to digitise the governments financial operations in line with highest international standards.

WAM

Excerpt from:

MoF announces new decisions for federal entities in the UAE - Gulf Today

Nigeria for the first time witnessed an election that ushered in an opposition presidential candidate as the winner in the person of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. This expectedly birthed new policies aimed at redirecting the scarce resources of the nation towards achievement of prosperity for all while at the same time surmounting the challenges of nation building.

President Buhari met an economy that over the years has depended on crude oil with the black gold accounting for over 70 percent of government revenue and over 90 percent of foreign exchange. The country had huge import bills as it consumed much of what it does not produce with high importation of agricultural products which could otherwise be produced locally.

Nigerias foreign reserve which was $40 billion as at January 2014 reduced to $29.01 billion in February 2015 from $47.55 billion dollars in 2012 and $51.91 billion in 2007. There was rising profile of Nigerias debt despite the period of boom in the oil market experienced before the current administration when the price of crude was selling at an average of $110 per barrel between 2011 and 2013.

As encapsulated in the Nigerian constitution, the primary objective of governance is to promote the welfare of the masses and ensure security of lives and properties. The policies of the Buhari administration could have derived its philosophical underpinning from this provision of the nations supreme law. The Presidents policies are founded on a tripod pedestal; economic recovery, combating corruption and ensuring national security.

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It is without doubt that the current democratic dispensation came during a period of economic downturn and fiscal challenges that resulted in the economy sliding into recession resulting in the deployment of various stabilization policies aimed at ensuring macroeconomic stability. As States were unable to pay salaries, the president had to quickly respond through the disbursement of bailout funds and the distribution of the secured Paris Club debt refunds to states of the federation. This significantly facilitated in reflating the economy and stabilizing the purchasing power of the citizens particularly the civil servants.

What made the crisis more difficult to tackle was the fact that there was meagre savings and foreign reserves during the then period of falling oil prices in the international market which greatly affected the availability of foreign exchange. Oil had declined to less than $30 per barrel. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in June 2015 responded through the exclusion of 41 commodities from accessing foreign exchange from the official window in order to encourage local production of these items and sustain foreign exchange market stability. Although this resulted in high prices of the commodities removed from access to the official foreign exchange, and high cost of production to manufacturers that use the items as raw materials, the policy helped in boosting domestic demand for and production of the commodities with government intervention helping to achieve this, and also reduced pressure on the CBN for foreign exchange. The policy was later reviewed in line with request from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).

Nigerians were urged to return to the land and the anchor borrowers programme (ABP) was launched to facilitate self-sufficiency in food production. The ABP was launched in November 2015 by President Buhari in Kebbi state with the objectives of linking anchor processing companies with smallholder farmers (SHFs) of some key agricultural commodities, ensure easy access to credit at low interest rate, increasing banks financing to the agricultural sector, reduce agricultural commodity importation and conserve external reserves, increase capacity utilization of agricultural firms, assist rural smallholder farmers to grow from subsistence to commercial production, and reduce the level of poverty among them. The programme thrust of the ABP is provision of farm inputs in kind and cash (for farm labour) to SHFs to boost production, stabilize inputs supply to agro-processors, and address the countrys negative balance of payment (BOP) in food. According to the CBN governor, as at first quarter of 2019, over 190 billion naira has been disbursed to over 1.1 million smallholder farmers cultivating over 1.3 million hectares of land which signifies high access to finance by farmers and job creation as well. Nigeria today ranks highest in Africa in rice cultivation and milling, with over seven million tonnes yearly.

The administration has made considerable efforts in the area of trying to stop fertilizer importation through partnership with the government of Morocco known as the presidential fertilizer initiative. Currently, not less than 11 moribund blending plants have been resuscitated and the country now produces about 1.3 million tonnes with the price of fertilizer crashed from fifteen thousand naira to five thousand five hundred naira per bag. Other benefits include annual savings of $200 million in foreign exchange, and 60 billion naira annually in budgetary provision for fertilizer subsidies

In August 2019, the president ordered partial closure of the Nigerian land borders to curtail the smuggling of food products especially rice into the country and encourage local production of agricultural products. The policy stemmed out of the failure of the neighbouring countries to fulfil their obligations of the ECOWAS agreement which states that goods coming into member country must be containerized and taken through the right borders where proper rules of origin can be established. Food products particularly rice, continued to be smuggled into the country despite efforts aimed at boosting domestic production and this continued to have negative effect on local producers. In 2017, an estimated 1.3 million metric tonnes of rice found their way into the country with paltry duty accruing to the federal government. The border closure has yielded fruits in the form of billions of naira accruing to government purse from payment of duties (about 5 billion naira daily more than before), increased domestic production of food items like rice, poultry, vegetables, tomatoes etc., with an added drop in fuel consumption by eight million litres a day. However, the border closure has resulted in significant rise in the price of rice which is the most important food crop for people in low and lower-middle income countries, Nigeria inclusive. Local rice production capacity was not adjusted for the sudden increase in demand as a result of the border closure, with the resulting high price of rice likely to make many Nigerians worse off due to the high poverty rate and low per capita income of majority of Nigerians.

Deriving from the policy thrust of the government, there has been continuation of existing infrastructural projects and initiation of new ones particularly those with direct bearing on economic activities and comparatively high multiplier effects. The administration has demonstrated commitment to upgrading and developing Nigerias infrastructure with high budgetary provisions for capital expenditure. Among the critical infrastructure projects are; the Lagos-Ibadan rail project that covers a stretch of 158 kilometres, the second Niger Bridge was signed in August 14, 2018, and work commenced on September first of the same year. So far, 35% of the work has been completed as at March 2020. In addition, the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road which contract was signed in April 2018 has reached 34% completion. Another infrastructure project worthy of mention is the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station, a 3,050 MW hydroelectric power project under construction which when completed will be the largest power-generating installation in the country. The contract award for the project was approved on 30th August, 2017 by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) though some legal tussles and environmental issues have stalled the project but these have recently reached high point of being resolved. The Buhari administration was able to secure agreement with the Exim Bank of China which has committed to contribute 85% (as loan) of the funds needed for completion of the project. Generally, it is expected that the project will massively create jobs and improve electricity supply in the country. As part of efforts aimed at revamping the power sector, the government has launched payment guarantee to generating companies and gas suppliers with much needed reforms and strengthening of distribution companies. However, more employment and income generation could have been achieved through mass housing construction in all states of the federation as contained in the APC Manifesto.

The Buharis government has also facilitated support for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through series of funding and capacity development initiatives. Successes have been recorded in the ease of doing business reform with Nigeria moving up the ladder in the ease of doing business. The SIP of this government is the largest social safety net in the history of Nigeria. We have hundreds of thousands of N-Power beneficiaries, millions of primary school pupils are benefitting from the Homegrown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP), and a lot of Nigerians have been captured in the conditional cash transfer (CCT) programme, with consequent positive multiplier effects on the economy.

The National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (NERGP) is the Federal Governments medium-term Economic Plan launched by the president in April 2017. The vision of the ERGP is to restore economic growth, invest in Nigerians and build a globally competitive economy. Generally, the plan has charted a course for the Nigerian economy from 2017-2020. However, there is no hope that the objectives of the plan will be fully realized in view of funding challenges and external shocks to the economy particularly with the current economic downturn arising from the scourge of COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, absence of a coherent long term National Development Plan and lack of autonomy for National Planning Commission are real set backs to sustainable development intervention capable of triggering prosperity for the majority of Nigerians.

Nigeria has witnessed a more ambitious anti-corruption struggle with the EFCC securing more wins than previously recorded from prosecution of offenders at the court, and conviction of high-profile individuals like former governors. There has been massive recovery of looted funds with as much as 1 trillion naira recovered internally so far. Budget reforms have been carried and this include directive that all Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should prepare their budgets in line with international public sector accounting standards (IPSAS) using a budget template designed for that purpose. For the first time ever, the 2017 budget was collated using web-based application developed by the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) and this replaced the paper submission process hitherto practiced with more than 4,000 staffs of the MDAs trained to use the new application. This strengthened the process against manipulation and unauthorised alteration. Also, in August 2015, the president introduced the Single Treasury Account (TSA) and issued a directive to all MDAs to close their accounts with the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and transfer their balances to the CBN on or before 15th September, 2015. This decision helped in consolidating more than 20,000 bank accounts previously spread across DMBs in the country, and in saving of an average of 4.7 billion monthly in banking charges associated with indiscriminate government borrowing from the DMBs. It also helped the government to have a comprehensive overview of cash flows across the entire government, hence resulting in increased transparency in public financial management. The government has also ensured deployment of BVN for payroll and social investment programme, replacement of old cash-based accounting system with an accruals-based system, creation of efficiency unit to reduce recurrent expenditure and promote efficient use of government resources, and the new whistle blowing policy. However, much more could have been achieved in resource optimization with a clear national costing policy of capital expenditure programmes using relevant professionals and consensus building with all relevant stakeholders.

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A Look at the Economic Policies and Actions of the Buharis Administration in the Last Five Years - Daily Trust