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DUBLIN, February 23, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Trend Opportunity Profile: B2B Sharing Economy" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Businesses have already realized that sharing assets will bring not only multiple, sustainable added values but also financial and social benefits. Consumption within businesses will shift from the ownership model to the usership model.

Businesses have realized that reducing the use of natural resources through sharing helps bring down CO2 emissions and carbon footprints. Shift in consumption model from ownership to usership within businesses, rapid adoption of digital technology, the realization of economic benefit through collaborative consumption, and crowd-sourced assets and services will drive the growth of B2B sharing economy in the future. Sharing economy also opens up new avenues of revenue generation through renting or sharing idle capital-intensive equipment. There has been a surge in the number of start-ups in this space, enabling easy and secure sharing of resources.

B2B sharing will pace up like what B2C sharing is today in the next 10 years: B2B sharing economy will be recognized by big organizations as being one of the profitable routes to revenue from the capital-intensive idle equipment. Smaller and medium-sized enterprises will see B2B sharing economy as a way of reducing cost and minimizing initial set-up investment. Emerging regions will see more growth of the B2B sharing economy. The APAC region will have the highest potential for growth of B2B sharing economy in the next few years. Company and consumer willingness to share assets is highest in this region. Companies functioning within the B2B sharing space will continue to witness increased funding.

This is a comprehensive study on the present and future scenario of sharing economy models within the B2B space and is a detailed analysis of the various business models in the B2B sharing economy space. This research service also covers analysis on the level of investment or funding being injected into the B2B sharing economy space a and the regional prospects of the B2B sharing economy, and the industries which will see the upsurge of the B2B sharing economy. The study also captures future growth opportunities within this space.

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Key Issues Addressed

What do we understand about the B2B sharing economy and what are the different business models within this space?

What is the investment and funding potential of the B2B sharing economy over the next decade?

Which industries will see the highest adoption of the B2B sharing economy model and what will be the future impact of this model on these industries?

What new innovations and functionalities will be emerging in this space over the next decade?

What are the key growth opportunities to watch out for in the next decade?

What are the critical success factors for growth, primarily for companies seeking to enter this space?

Key Topics Covered:

1. Strategic Imperatives

2. Growth Environment

3. Sharing Economy in B2B

Trend Opportunity Overview

Key Themes of B2B Sharing Economy

B2B Sharing Economy Model - Marketplace-based Model

B2B Sharing Economy Model - Access-based Model

B2B Sharing Economy Model - On-demand Model

Evolving Trends by Industry

Trend Opportunity - Attractiveness Analysis

Trend Opportunity - Regional Exposure

Trend Opportunity - Industry Implications

Trend Opportunity - Levers

Case Study - Flexible Shared Workspaces

Case Study - B2B Crowd-funding Platform

Case Study - Fleet Sharing

Case Study - Rental-as-a-service

Case Study - Sharing Medical Resources

Case Study - B2B Sharing Marketplace

Trend Opportunity - Impact and Certainty Analysis

Trend Opportunity Matrix - Trend Innovation Index

Innovation Attractiveness Score

Trend Opportunity Matrix - Trend Growth Index

Growth Attractiveness Score

Trends - Beets Implications

4. Growth Opportunity Analysis

Growth Opportunity 1 - B2B Sharing that Enables Supply-chain-as-a-Service for Increased Asset Utilization and Operational Efficiency of Firms within the Supply Chain

Growth Opportunity 2 - Human Resource-as-a-Service will Ensure Huge Cost Savings in the B2B Landscape

Growth Opportunity 3 - Manufacturing-as-a Service with B2B Sharing Model for Greater Economic Returns

Critical Success Factors for Growth

Conclusion - The Way Forward

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/nafa03

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Global B2B Sharing Economy: Human Resource-as-a-Service will Ensure Huge Cost Savings in the B2B Landscape - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Yahoo Finance

As the world moves towards an increasingly digital future, expanded connectivity infrastructure has become a defining feature of a modern economy.

By Steve Briggs, chief sales and marketing officer at Seacom

It allows people and businesses across the globe to connect with and access a world of digital innovation. Whether its for social media and entertainment, or improved business performance through digital processes, connected technologies are now part of nearly every aspect of our daily lives.

Connectivity is vital for the growth and future success of every global economy, the economic benefits of which have been widely researched in many countries.

Only recently, however, has a thorough study been conducted on the economic impact of connectivity delivered by submarine fibre optic cables in South Africa.

The study, which was conducted by RTI International, finds the overall economic impact of connectivity to be significant, leading to increases in GDP and improvements to the likelihood of being employed.

But these economic gains were not broad-based because many South Africans still do not have access to or cannot afford fast and reliable Internet services. So, why are subsea cables so important to our economy, and what can we do to get more South Africans connected?

Transitioning to a digital-first economy

Over the last few decades, South Africa has transformed from a resource-based economy relying on rich mineral reserves, to an economy driven largely by tertiary sectors such as financial and business services, transport and communication, and manufacturing. Unlike more labour-intensive and low-skilled sectors, these sectors all rely heavily on ICT infrastructure that requires connectivity.

The study by RTI International demonstrates this, finding that subsea cable connectivity led to a 6,1% increase in GDP per capita between 2009 and 2014. This can be attributed to factors such as technological innovation, access to international markets, and improved education for people living in connected areas.

Connectivity also has a role to play in addressing unemployment, which remains one of South Africas most pressing socioeconomic challenges. In the aftermath of the pandemic, unemployment rose to a record high of 34,9% by the third quarter of 2021. The RTI International study finds that people were 2,2% more likely to be employed if they lived within 500 metres of the fibre network.

The study also highlights that connecting South Africas most densely populated areas would translate to the greatest increases in total employment.

Connecting Africa with the world

Subsea fibre optic cables are the backbone of the Internet. But before Africa had a subsea cable system, the entire continent relied on sporadic satellite connections that made Internet access largely inaccessible and expensive.

At the same time, South Africas telecommunications market suffered because it did not have a competitive structure, which changed in 2008 when a court ruling allowed other industry players to build infrastructure and provide Internet services.

One year later, Africa saw its first commercial undersea cable. The Seacom cable spans 17 000km and connects the eastern and southern coasts of Africa with the rest of the world with faster and more affordable fibre connectivity. The RTI International study credits this subsea cable for disrupting the market, resulting in a substantial decrease in wholesale prices for direct fibre and an increased uptake of broadband connectivity.

Since then, South Africas fibre-to-the-home connectivity has expanded significantly, connecting over 600 000 homes in a market that was growing more than 30% per year in 2019. Now, 90% of South Africas population also lives within 10km of a fibre line because of our extensive domestic network in most major cities and towns.

But, even though widespread fibre penetration is eminently achievable, only 1,2% of households in rural areas had access to Internet at home in 2019, compared to 15,4% of households in metropolitan areas.

And, despite the fact that mobile broadband coverage reaches over 95% of the population, more than 30% of South Africans still do not use the Internet.

One reason for this is the prohibitive cost of mobile data, and the lack of incentives for last-mile infrastructure development beyond the existing fibre network. While fibre connections require a higher initial investment, fibre ultimately pays its dividends by being orders of magnitude cheaper than prepaid mobile data and providing a much faster and more reliable connection.

Looking forward

Digital technologies are evolving rapidly, which is why we need a modern approach to policy and regulation to keep up with other digitally driven economies. Our policy and regulatory environment in the telecommunications sector has been characterised as sluggish and uncoordinated, such as the failed attempt to deliver universal broadband access through SA Connect.

But there are many reasons to be optimistic. Our government has recognised the importance of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) for the future of our economy, and at a BRICS meeting on 11 November 2021, our Minister of Communications announced a fast-track programme that aims to connect all South Africans to the Internet within 24 months.

Additionally, government agencies will be funding the development of affordable Internet access for low-income neighbourhoods. Other initiatives like Project Isizwe are also helping provide local communities with uncapped Wi-Fi for as little as R5.

Theres no doubt that South Africa needs more partnerships between government, NGOs, and the private sector to help narrow the digital divide. By allowing more people and businesses to participate in the digital economy with affordable connectivity, we can create more jobs, accelerate economic recovery, and pave the way forward to a more connected future.

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The economic impact of connectivity in SA - IT-Online

Coal yard.

Korba district in Chhattisgarh has 13 operational mines. Four more mines are in the pipeline. Of the operational ones, as many as 10 are loss-making, and just three are profitableGevra, Kusmunda and Dipkaproducing 95% of the coal.

It is a quintessential example of an economy that will need to immediately think of what to do when India starts to 'phase down' coal as promised at the annual global climate change conference (COP26) last year.

Coal, part of the fossil fuel basket, is the largest contributor towards emissions and hence planned to be phased down as part of climate action to restrict emissions so that the global temperature rise is restricted to 1.5-degree Celsius.

The latest study has found that Korba's coal-centric economy has stymied the growth of other economic sectors, including agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, and services even as the poor socio-economic status and high dependence on the coal economy make it highly vulnerable to the unplanned closure of mines and industries, leading to severe socio-economic consequences.

Keeping in mind that India's biggest coal and power districts will face energy transition challenges much earlier than anticipatedit is predicted that Korba will reach its peak in 2025the economic restructuring and development intervention will be essential, the latest study by International Forum for Environment Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST) has pointed out.

'Korba: Planning a Just Transition for India's Biggest Coal and Power District' was launched earlier this week.

"Our study of Korba in Chhattisgarh essentially shows just transition in India is about re-development of the coal regions. Major policy and legal reforms in land, labour, and finance will be required to enable a smooth just transition. We need to develop a strategic roadmap for this and secure necessary finances to support it, both domestically and through international cooperation," Chandra Bhushan of iForest said.

Very clear why Bhushan says so. As mentioned in the report, with declining coal production, for the mining companies (here, South-Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL)) shutting down all eight unprofitable mines in Korba district in the next few years is a win-win situation as the resources saved can be diverted to start a just transition in Korba.

Despite having coal mines and multiple power plants and other industries such as Balco Plant, the district is a Schedule V district with over 40 per cent tribal population and declared 'Aspirational District' with 41 per cent people living below the poverty line and over 32 per cent of the district's population being 'multidimensionally poor' with limited access to healthcare, education, and basic amenities.

The numbers are alarming considering the fact that Korba produces over 16 per cent of India's coal and is also an electricity hub, with 6,428 MW of thermal power capacity. Clearly, the coal-based economy did not do justice to the poorest of the poor and that makes the task of transition harder in view of the human resources.

The study points out that Korba has an aging formal workforceat least 70 per cent of SECL and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) workers are 40-60 years of age.

"Their retirement can be synchronized with plant and mine closure, making the transition of the formal workers less of a challenge. The biggest challenge is the re-employment of informal workers, who constitute over 60 per cent of the workforce in the coal industry. They will require job support and reskilling. Skilling for the new green economy is another challenge," the report mentions.

Speaking at the launch of the study report, Secretary, Coal Ministry, Anil Kumar Jain, had said, "A place-based approach is an answer to ensuring a just transition as districts have different issues. A strategic approach will be needed as there is a big human aspect involved in the energy transition."

He also suggested re-purposing mining land can be a key opportunity.

The CEO of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, welcomed the idea of the report and said, this can become the template in terms of impact on jobs and livelihood, revenue and other social sector investments the energy shift will have consequences for coal-dependent districts and states' just transitional result as a concept around the world to ensure that cold dependent towns of regions do not suffer."

"I entirely agree that a strategic plan needs to be developed in the sector to prevent closures of mine and socio-economic disruptions and the policy should include components of cold phase-out strategy at the national state level coal-based power phase-out plan," he said.

"Just transition is not just about climate change action; it is an opportunity to reverse the resource curse in the coal districts. The next 10 to 20 years will be crucial for Korba to plan and implement a just transition. We need to have the right policies and governance mechanisms to ensure that this opportunity to build a new inclusive economy is realized," said Srestha Banerjee, Director, Just Transition, iFOREST.

**

The above article has been published from a wire agency with minimal modifications to the headline and text.

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Biggest Coal and Power District: Chhattisgarh's Korba Highlights Major Energy Transition Challenges for India | The Weather Channel - Articles from...

Congress instructs the Federal Reserve to aim for maximum employment and price stability. The Fed has defined price stability as inflation averaging 2%, but maximum employment doesnt lend itself to such a simple measure. In its monetary policy strategy statement, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Feds policy-setting body, says: The maximum level of employment is a broad-based and inclusive goal that is not directly measurable and changes over time owing largely to nonmonetary factors that affect the structure and dynamics of the labor market.[T]he Committees policy decisions must be informed by assessments of the shortfalls of employment from its maximum level, recognizing that such assessments are necessarily uncertain and subject to revision. The Committee considers a wide range of indicators in making these assessments.

What does that mean in practice?

Simply put, maximum employment sometimes called full employment is the highest level of employment the economy can sustain without generating unwelcome inflation. It describes an economy in which nearly everyone who wants to work has a job. The unemployment rate is one important way to gauge whether an economy is at maximum employment, but not the only one.

The headline unemployment rate (U-3) is defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) as the percentage of adults who do not have a job, have actively sought work in the last four weeks, and are currently able to work. The unemployment rate is a percentage of the labor force, the sum of the unemployed plus the employed.

This measure doesnt, however, account for all idle workers and isnt a sufficient measure of whats called slack in the labor market. It doesnt, for instance, count workers who have given up looking for work or those who work part-time because they cant find a full-time job. The BLS publishes several alternative measures. The U-6 measure, for instance, counts the unemployed plus discouraged workers (those whod like to work but have given up looking because they believe there are no jobs available for them), those who are marginally attached to the labor force (those whod like to work but have stopped looking for work for any other reason), and those working part-time whod prefer full-time jobs.

Primarily because for much of the past decade, the unemployment rate fell and inflation didnt rise. Although the unemployment rate is a very informative aggregate indicator, it provides only one narrow measure of where the labor market is relative to maximum employment, Fed Governor Lael Brainard has said. For nearly four decades, monetary policy was guided by a strong presumption that accommodation should be reduced preemptively when the unemployment rate nears its normal rate in anticipation that high inflation would otherwise soon follow. But changes in economic relationships over the past decade have led trend inflation to run persistently somewhat below target and inflation to be relatively insensitive to resource utilization.

In a subtle but significant change to its monetary policy strategy statement, the Fed said in August 2020 that it would respond to shortfalls of employment from its maximum level rather than the previous deviations from its maximum level. This indicated that the Fed would no longer preemptively tighten monetary policy only because unemployment was approaching or even falling below estimates of the unemployment rate that economist models suggest are consistent with stable inflation. This change signals that high employment, in the absence of unwanted increases in inflation or other risks that could impede the attainment of the Committees goals, will not by itself be a cause for policy concern, the Fed said.

The Fed defines the maximum level of employment as a broad-based and inclusive goal. When Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced the addition of that phrase to the Feds strategy statement, he said it reflects our appreciation for the benefits of a strong job market, particularly for many in low- and moderate-income communities. This reflects calls for the Fed to keep interest rates lower as a way to boost employment in communities, including communities of color, where people are more likely to be unemployed. It also argues for looking beyond the overall unemployment rate to decide whether the economy is at maximum employment. What this means is practice for Fed policy remains to be seen. Some observers have argued that the Fed should keep interest rates low until the Black unemployment rate falls. But Powell has said, The point of the broad and inclusive goal was not to target a particular unemployment rate for any particular group And one of the things we look at is unemployment rates and participation rates and wages for different demographic and age groups and that kind of thing.

Among the other measures of the labor market that the Fed and others track are the following.

The Labor Force Participation (LFP) rate is the number of employed people plus the officially unemployed divided by the civilian non-institutionalized population older than 16.

In recent years, the LFP rate has been declining as the Baby Boomer generation ages and retires. To look beyond that demographic change, economists often focus on the LFP for people between the ages of 25 and 54, so-called prime age because people in this age group are more likely to be available to work. When the prime age LFP rate falls, it means there are more workers on the sidelines of the economy who arent counted as unemployed but who may be drawn into the labor force.

In economic downturns, LFP often declines as people stop looking for work. During the pandemic, the LFP rate fell sharply as many parents (particularly mothers) left the labor force due to childcare facility closures and schools shifting to distance learning, and others dropped out for fear of COVID or other reasons, and still others took early retirement. The Fed and other economists have been surprised that the LFP didnt rebound more quickly when vaccines became available and lockdowns ended.

The failure of the LFP rate to return quickly to pre-pandemic levels led the Fed in late 2021 and early 2022 to judge that the economy was closer to maximum employment than it had anticipated. Powell noted that Fed officials hope the level of maximum employment consistent with stable prices may increase as [labor force] participation gradually rises.

The employment to population ratio is the employed as a percentage of the civilian noninstitutionalized population. It reflects those people who are counted as unemployed and those who are not working for some other reasonthose who are retired as well as those who have given up looking for work.

Using a sample of 16,000 employers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) measures the number of people who have left their jobs.

The quits rate counts workers who voluntarily left their job as a percent of total employment. The layoffs and discharges rate includes all involuntary separations initiated by the employer. Retirements, transfers, deaths, and disability-related separations are counted in the other separations rate.

Workers are more likely to quit when they feel confident they can obtain another job, so a rising quit rate is a sign of a very strong job market.

JOLTS also counts the number of positions for which employers are actively recruiting and would start within 30 days of hire. The number of unfilled jobs is a measure of the unmet demand for labor. The ratio of the number of unemployed per job opening is a way to gauge the strength of the job market; the lower this ratio, the closer the economy is to maximum employment.

Named for William Beveridge, a 20th-century British labor economist and politician (though he apparently never drew it), the Beveridge Curve charts the number of job postings (as a percentage of all filled and unfilled jobs) against unemployment rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics updates the chart monthly here. The line generally slopes downward because a higher rate of unemployment usually coincides with a lower rate of vacancies, since there are more people looking for jobs.

Outward shifts in the curve (that is, up and to the right) show a given level of job postings is associated with higher rates of unemployment. They are seen as indicators of unwelcome change in the labor marketan increase in mismatches between the skills of workers and the demands of employers, for instance, or a reluctance of jobless workers to take available jobs. The Beveridge Curve did shift outward following the Great Recession. It shifted further outward during and after the COVID-19 pandemic; in other words, employers found it harder to hire at given rates of unemployment than they had in the recent past. When the unemployment rate fell to 4.2% in November 2021, the job openings rate was 6.6%. In September 2017, when the unemployment rate also hit 4.2%, the job openings rate was 4.1%.

The NAIRU (Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment) is an estimate of the lowest the unemployment rate can go without leading to rising inflation. The logic is that when there arent very many unemployed workers, employers raise wages and that leads to rising prices. The NAIRU is difficult to estimate precisely and can change over time as, among other factors, demographics, union strength, and the pace of productivity change.

At his January 2022 press conference, amid growing concern about rising inflation, Powell said that most FOMC participants agree that labor market conditions are consistent with maximum employment, which he defined as the highest level of employment that is consistent with price stability. The issue, Powell added, is whether we can raise [interest] rates and move to a less accommodative [monetary policy] without hurting the labor market.

The Brookings Institution is financed through the support of a diverse array of foundations, corporations, governments, individuals, as well as an endowment. A list of donors can be found in our annual reports published online here. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions in this report are solely those of its author(s) and are not influenced by any donation.

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How does the Fed define maximum employment? - Brookings Institution

The books main aim, French explains early on, is to restore those key chapters which articulate Africas significance to our common narrative of modernity to their proper place of prominence.

French intricately traces, from the early 15th century through the Second World War, the encounters between African and European civilisations. These, he argues, were motivated by Europes desire to trade with West Africas rich, Black civilisations. These included the Ghanaian and Malian empires. The ancient West African region was perceived as an abundant source of both gold and slaves. French argues that it is the intertwined background of gold and slavery which would eventually birth the transatlantic slave trade of the early 16th century.

A 600-year journey

Born in Blackness sprawls approximately 600 years. It traverses geographies from the edge of Europe, across Africa and the Americas. It follows the long history of the age of European discovery beginning with Portugals early ventures into Africa and Asia in the late 1400s and early 1500s, through the Atlantic slave trades modest start in Barbados in the 1630s to the Haitian Revolution.

Then it moves to Londons abolishment of the transatlantic trafficking of humans in 1807 and the introduction of the mechanical cotton picker. This invention could do the work of fifty sharecropping Blacks, a fact not lost on the white planters of the (Mississippi Delta). Frenchs historical tracing of the crafting of the modern world through the oppression and subjugation of Black persons continues on through the Second World War and beyond.

Citing Simeon Booker, a noteworthy African-American journalist whose work concerned the American civil rights movement and the murder of Emmett Till, an African-American teenager accused of offending a white woman, French notes that in the early 1960s, Mississipi could easily rank with South Africa, Angola or Nazi Germany for brutality and hatred.

His careful weaving together of how gold and slavery became intertwined over centuries and continents makes one thing abundantly clear. Without the trade of persons belonging to African civilisations across the globe, but particularly the Atlantic, the modern world would not have been made.

A reckoning with slavery

As the author explains, the boom of the cotton, sugar and tobacco industries of the colonial US simply would not have happened without the trade of slaves from Africa. Without this capitalist jolt as French puts it, what we know now as the United States of America would have remained relatively obscure. It would not likely have become the superpower state it is today.

In this way Born in Blackness challenges emphatically the deliberate forgetting of European contests over control of African resources. This process of erasure, French explains, began with Europes Age of Discovery (1400s-1600s). The improperly explained rationale for this era was that European civilisations wanted to form trading ties with Asia. To do so, they reached across continents, including Africa, for territory and, later, subjects.

But French insists that the real rationale was Europes earnest desire to establish economic ties with Africa, and in particular West Africa with its resource-rich civilisations and resource-based economies.

The intervention of Born in Blackness, then, is to insist on reckoning with the role played by the brutal bond between Europe and Africa. This was forged through slavery. It is what drove the birth of a truly global capitalist economy; it hastened the processes of industrialisation and revolutionised the worlds diets by facilitating the globalisation of the consumption of sugar.

It is also important to mark, as French does, that the centrality of enslaved Africans labour extends beyond the mining of plantation crops to the very creation of the plantations themselves. It was the slaves who prepared the land for planting: they removed plants and rocks, but most importantly displaced indigenous peoples from their territories.

A world born in Blackness

In marking this, Born in Blackness demonstrates how the displacement to which African persons taken as slaves is mirrored in the making of modern-day America and echoed in the displacement of first nations or indigenous Americans.

What is at stake in the intervention of the book is precisely what is gestured toward by its title: that modernity and the modern world was indeed born in Blackness. The civilisational transformations the author traces economic, spatial and most importantly cultural in their texture are a product of Blackness. DM/ML

This story was first published in The Conversation.

Lauren van der Rede is a lecturer at Stellenbosch University.

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THE CONVERSATION: Book review: How Africa was central to the making of the modern world - Daily Maverick

President Muhammadu Buhari has called on European leaders to support African Union measures aimed at ending unconstitutional leadership changes on the continent.

We also call for stronger support from the EU in the condemnation and imposition of weighty sanctions on countries that engage in unconstitutional change of governments.

We equally seek the EUs condemnation of manipulation of Constitutions in favour of extension of term limits, he said at a roundtable discussion on Peace, Security and Governance at the on-going 6th EU-AU summit in Brussels.

The presidents spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, stated in Abuja on Friday that Buhari described the European leaders as partners in promoting democracy and good governance.

He equally stressed the need to nip the root causes of extremism, conflicts and tensions in Africa in the bud, Shehu stated.

Africa has continued to witness different waves of violent extremism, community-based conflicts and inter-ethnic tensions, notably in rural areas.

For many decades, our continent has been deprived of political stability and socio-economic development due to terrorism and violent extremism.

More worrisome is the current state of democracy on the continent, which has become a great source of concern to many of us, Shehu quoted Buhari as saying.

He added that the Nigerian leader laid particular emphasis on increasing cases of unconstitutional change of governments in West Africa,

The African Union has often responded to these challenges through different structures such as the African Peace and Security Architecture and the African Governance Architecture.

Through enhanced collaboration with our development partners, especially the European Union, we can identify areas of cooperation for quick and substantial results, Buhari also said.

He argued that as leaders and policymakers, it was important for the partners to place priority on tackling the root causes of conflicts in Africa.

He said it was also important to take measures to safeguard peace and security if Africa would attain its African Union Agenda 2063.

According to him, it is imperative to ensure that election processes in Africa have outcomes that truly reflect the wishes of the electorate, as to go contrary to this, is courting instability.

We have a responsibility to reduce conflicts that stem from lack of good governance, unaccountability, corruption and social exclusion.

Free, fair, credible and transparent elections remain crucial elements in ensuring peace and security and promoting constitutional order, democracy and inclusive governance on the continent.

It is therefore imperative for our partnership to also focus on strengthening election processes in Africa and prevent interference to influence the processes and outcomes of elections, he told the summit.

According to Shehu, the Nigerian leader also called for the concretisation and transformation of promises of cooperation made by EU leaders into actions.

I underscore the need to convert our pledges on political cooperation in the area of peace, security and conflict prevention into concrete initiatives.

Such initiatives are needed in joint field missions, shared understanding and analysis on crisis situations, as well as joint early action and swift implementation of agreed positions.

The movement and operation of terrorists and violent extremist groups along the Sahel could better be addressed through an improved Continental Early Warning Mechanism.

Consequently, we believe there is a clear need to strengthen our cooperation on security with the EU, particularly through improved intelligence sharing and acquisition of military equipment and hardware.

We invite the EU to upscale its support for the G5 Sahel and the Multinational Joint Taskforce in the Lake Chad Region.

This is required as we strive to further degrade Boko Haram insurgents and their Islamic State in the West Africa Province counterparts.

Africa also looks up to Europe for enhanced support in combating illicit financial flows and terrorism funding that aid the activities of terrorists and violent extremist groups, Buhari stressed.

He called for all hands to be on deck to ensure that Africas Blue Economy Agenda for development is realised.

Africas Blue Economy is made of vast lakes and rivers and an extensive ocean resource base.

The Blue Economy can play a major role in Africas structural transformation, sustainable economic progress, and social development.

The largest sectors of the current African aquatic and ocean-based economy are fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, transport, ports, coastal mining, and energy.

I must emphasise the importance of expanding regional and international cooperation on ocean governance, on the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing as well as on maritime security.

These including piracy, illicit trafficking and other maritime crimes and threats as reflected in the 2050 Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy, Buhari stressed.

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Buhari Calls For EU's Weighty Sanctions On Coup Plotters In Africa The Whistler Nigeria - The Whistler Nigeria

Black, Brown and Indigenous people have been systematically excluded from earth sciences, magnifying their exposure to the most severe impacts of climate change, said Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, lead author of a recent commentary in the journal Nature Geosciences.

That adds to the burden of global warming that people of color already bear more heavily than other populations because the world for centuries has been geographically delineated based on racism, and resultant slavery and colonialism, Berhe said.

The article was the latest in a series of academic papers and articles that describe the consequences of discrimination in the sciences, but many scientists hope that it wont be the last.

Berhe, a University of California, Merced soil scientist and environmental justice advocate, said that, because of structural racism, there arent nearly enough conversations about how the worst impacts of climate change are affecting Black and Brown people disproportionately.

Most of the nearly 1 billion people worldwide facing an increased threat of food insecurity and displacement from global warming are Black and Brown, and their stories arent being told in part because voices from communities of color and Indigenous populations have been systematically excluded from scientific fields critical to fully understanding and explaining climate impacts, she said.

The loss of women and people of color from various stages of educational and career paths in science has long been referred to as the leaky pipeline. But in the article published last month, Berhe and her co-authors said that analogy ignores the systemic racism that in large part built the pipeline. Closer to the truth, they assert, is that the legacy of racism in science created a vicious and hostile obstacle course that blocks the advancement of women, as well as Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC). To correct the well-documented lack of inclusion, this exclusionary obstacle course should be placed in the context of scientific racism, colonial legacies and systemic biases that permeate our disciplines, they wrote.

Conversations in some science organizations about race and racism accelerated as a wave of civil rights protests spread globally in 2020 after a policeman choked George Floyd to death in Minneapolis. Those dialogues have led some science organizations and research institutions to make diversity pledges, which will help combat global warming and other planetary emergencies like biodiversity loss, said Berhe, who has been studying the topic for 20 years.

Empowering and amplifying the voices and concerns of historically marginalized communities, she said, would build a diverse and inclusive science community that can better resolve historic inequities in access to resources and opportunities. Most important may be addressing the socio-economic and political factors that are the root causes and contemporary effects of the climate crisis, she added.

In the climate science community, the lack of diversity shows with the disproportional attention paid to the physical impacts of increasing atmospheric temperature on melting polar sea ice or permafrost, rising sea levels, and even impact on polar bears, Berhe said. These are all important issues in their own right. But, while these issues have been receiving considerable attention, what doesnt get as much press is that, in the context of human security, climate change is a threat multiplier, intensifying droughts and famines in developing African countries.

One recent study showed a dangerous lack of data about the threat of extreme heat waves in large parts of Africadata needed to create early warning systems and protect people. Other studies have identified structural racism in science showing up as research biases because most studies are conducted by white researchers in developed countries.

At national and local levels, many scientific fields and institutions are still not very inclusive and dont address the issues of harassment, discrimination and bullying in the workplace with the kind of seriousness and urgency that the issue demands, Berhe said. As a result, these exclusionary behaviors have contributed to underrepresentation and exclusion of women and BIPOC. The cost of that to science and society has been huge.

If science were more inclusive, it would have a richer and deeper understanding of pressing issues facing society, including the climate crisis, said article co-author Meredith Hastings, an environmental researcher and deputy director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.

The more minds you put toward a problem the more likely you are to find a solution, she said. We would have a more critical understanding of the changes that are already taking place.

Hastings said that ongoing exclusion of people of color, Indigenous people and women in science should also be considered in a larger societal context, including the failure of political leadership to strengthen voting rights, a measure that would empower disenfranchised people at a fundamental level.

In our country, everything is so driven by politics, she said. I get so overwhelmed by the structural, systemic racism. At the very least, cant we create a system where we remove the obstacles? And how do we actually consider a different system? You have to have politicians who are willing to fight for change.

The reality is that science, rather than being purely objective, is political and social, said Kuheli Dutt, assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion at MIT.

It involves questions of what should be studied, how should it be studied, how the parameters should be defined, what should be included and what should be excluded, said Dutt, who was not an author of the commentary. And there is usually an element of power relations in who gets to decide these things.

The rapid development of modern western science has been driven partly by its co-dependence with societal hunger for natural resources, she said, but people often describe geosciences as being objective study of the natural world, the oceans, soil and rocks, rather than the social world.

Concepts like resources and extraction often ignore the forced labor extracted from marginalized groups, she said. Similarly, the study of land is often limited to its physical properties; rocks, soils, rather than the history of forced displacement associated with those lands. With this focus on physical properties there is a significant historic and social context that gets ignored.

Some scientists point to organizations that have more successfully incorporated inclusivity and equity into their staffs and work as models for what science with a focus on diversity could accomplish.

Dawn Wright, an ocean researcher and chief scientist with ESRI, a digital mapping company, said she would like to see more science stories told about the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, a group including many developing countries. The coalition is pushing for a global agreement for nature and people to halt the accelerating loss of species, and protect vital ecosystems that are the source of our economic security, said Wright, who was not an author of the recent article.

The stories behind the critical involvement of nations such as Botswana, Cote dIvoire, Kenya, the Marshall Islands, Seychelles, Mozambique and more are not being told, she said, including what the world stands to learn from their Indigenous, traditional ecological knowledge around sustainable resource management, biodiversity accounting and protection.

And while the era of direct colonization of new land areas is over, the exploitation of ocean resources, including on the seabed, is just getting started. Wright said that presents an opportunity to test diversity and justice pledges from policymakers and the scientists that inform them.

A 2021 research paper spelled out an important warning about the potential social injustices that may result from the growth of the new blue economy, including dispossession of property, displacement of communities, ocean grabbing and environmental justice concerns about pollution and waste, as well as the exclusion of Indigenous communities and people of color from governance of the ocean-based economy.

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Wright said some of the challenges described in the paper are now being addressed, and sharing those success stories more often could leverage those considerations into more hidebound institutions.

In my view we are not hearing enough about these efforts, they are not being trumpeted and feted, even to the point of forcing long-standing bastions of the old ivory tower ways to take note, to step up and to compete, she said, because graduate students are starting to gravitate toward schools that offer courses closely looking the power structures that are part of science.

The stories of scientists of color are still not being told widely enough, she said. Too many of us are still hidden figures, but ethnic history months and the remarkable outpouring of featurettes on Twitter in particular are starting to improve this.

Berhe said she hopes the science community can make swift progress, because voices of people of color are still vastly underrepresented in some of the most important conversations around identification, prioritization, implementation and even communication of climate change science, adaptation, and mitigation.

Dutt added that ignoring the social aspects of science in the name of objectivity often means that these stories dont get told or studied in a meaningful way in the geosciences. And with this focus on physical properties, there is a significant historic and social context that gets ignored.

Bob Berwyn an Austria-based reporter who has covered climate science and international climate policy for more than a decade. Previously, he reported on the environment, endangered species and public lands for several Colorado newspapers, and also worked as editor and assistant editor at community newspapers in the Colorado Rockies.

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Researchers Say Science Skewed by Racism is Increasing the Threat of Global Warming to People of Color - InsideClimate News

The Russian maritime Arctic stretches more than 160 degrees longitude from the Norwegian-Russian border in the west, to the Bering Strait in the east. It is Russias vast northern coastline, an open border to the Arctic Ocean, and a marine space that presents both strategic vulnerabilities and economic opportunities. The entire coastal area is arguably undergoing the most profound changes of any region in todays Arctic. This essay seeks to identify key influential drivers of change, and uncertainties that will plausibly determine the regions future.

The coastal seas along the northern frontier of Eurasia invite visions of marine transportation systems and shipping lanes connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Some Arctic shipping concepts are realistic and doable, and others are visionary but implausible. For accuracy, the historic name for the potential marine routes linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the entire Russian maritime is the Northeast Passage (NEP). By Russian law, the Northern Sea Route (NSR) stretches from Kara Gate at the southern tip of the island of Novaya Zemlya east to the Bering Strait, and encompasses all routes taken through the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), 200 nautical miles out from the coast. Notably the special rules and regulations used along the NSR do not apply to the Barents Sea, thus the NSR is not a trans-Arctic (ocean to ocean) routing option. However, whatever ones perspective, the NSR has evolved into Russias Arctic national waterway, facilitating the movement of domestic and foreign-flag marine traffic.

One approach to better understand the complexities of the future of the Russian maritime Arctic is to compile and examine select, high level or strategic drivers of change. The drivers and their uncertainties can provide a framework for developing plausible futures or scenarios for this once remote, but now an emerging, Arctic area. Seven influential factors or drivers of regional change stand out and are included in the following narratives:

The Russian Arctic, or more precisely the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation, noted in strategic documents, holds one of the worlds largest storehouses of natural resources. While oil, natural gas, and coal are abundant and gain global attention, minerals such as nickel, palladium, platinum, copper, and more raw materials are also significant commodities available for export. Widely published data provide an important story: 22% of Russias total exports and 80% of its gas exports come from the Russian Arctic. The Kremlins long-term strategy is to increase these export totals so that the region can contribute more to Russias gross domestic product (GDP). One additional strategic goal is to move more natural gas (and oil) exports to Asian markets, to achieve a better balance with the pipeline gas flows from Western Siberia to European customers.

Two major complexes in the Russian maritime Arctic are key drivers and hubs for natural resource development. The first is the industrial complex at Norilsk, formerly the enterprise Norilsk Nickel, now named Nornickel, one of the worlds largest metal producers (Nornickel is the largest producer of nickel and palladium, the third largest platinum producer, and the fourth largest copper producer). The products are taken by rail to the port of Dudinka on the Yenisey River and loaded aboard icebreaking container ships designed in Finland and built in Germany and Finland. These specialized ships sail on year-round voyages west to Murmansk and European ports, and east through the Bering Strait in summer months to Asian markets.

The second complex of natural resource development projects is in the Ob Gulf. A new LNG plant and the port of Sabetta are located along the western shore of the Yamal Peninsula; in the southern end of the Ob Gulf, another port, Novy Port, has been built as an oil export terminal. Icebreakers, LNG icebreaking carriers, and icebreaking tankers maintain yearlong-navigation on destination voyages from the Ob Gulf along the NSR to Murmansk (and European ports), and into the Pacific in an eight-to-ten month navigation season. Russia aims to establish year-round navigation on the NSR to the east, and into the Pacific. The NSR has experienced exponential growth in cargo tonnage carried annually, with more than 35 million tons carried during 2021; most in oil and natural gas. A decree by President Putin in 2018 set a target of 80 million tons to be carried by the NSR in 2024.

Russias NSR as an Arctic national waterway is clearly linked to the flow of natural resource exports. Much uncertainty remains in how the NSR and NEP can be developed initially as a seasonal (summer) supplement to the Suez Canal for trans-Arctic navigation. Russian authorities and shippers are developing trans-shipment ports for LNG near Murmansk and on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Pacific. This system is designed to keep the LNG icebreaking carriers operating in Arctic waters and move the LNG to larger storage sites outside the Yamal. Visionary plans have also been proposed to build a state-owned trans-shipment container operation along the NSR to compete in the future with other global trade routes. There is little doubt of further development of the NSR and its associated marine infrastructure in support of Russias economic and security interests.

The short and long-term consequences of anthropogenic climate change in the Russian Arctic are many and profound. No longer a wildcard factor, climate change has become a major disruptive force and driver of environmental change. Arctic sea ice retreat in all seasons, detailed in satellite observations during the past four decades, provides for greater marine access along the length of the NSR and potentially longer seasons of navigation. Higher temperatures throughout the Russian Arctic, with historic summer warming in Siberia, have promoted widespread forest fires and facilitated the thawing of permafrost, frozen ground, or soil. Thawing permafrost creates unstable ground conditions for all built infrastructure such as roads, buildings, runways, pipelines, and ports, and reduces land access in select areas. The Arctic coastline is particularly vulnerable to thawing permafrost that meets an increasingly ice-free ocean; the outcome is accelerating coastal erosion. Any future marine infrastructure initiatives such as rebuilding existing Arctic ports and developing new natural resource projects will need to address projected changes in the surrounding land and subsea permafrost. Highlighting this issue, the Russian government recently approved funding for a national system to monitor Russias permafrost that covers nearly two thirds of the countrys land mass. The data collected will provide not only information on permafrost hazards for infrastructure, but also an assessment of the release of vast amounts of methane and carbon to the atmosphere.

It should not be surprising that development of the Russian maritime Arctic is a top down, Russian state directed, enterprise.

Much of the current natural resource initiatives in the Russian maritime Arctic are focused on development of oil, natural gas, and coal, and facilitating their ship transport to European and Asian markets. Russia faces a major paradox, a strategy contradictory to emerging global efforts to mitigate future greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change mitigation and adaptation, and a new era of energy transition, will create uncertainties for oil, gas, and coal markets. Uncertainties in markets for hydrocarbons and commodity price volatilities will impact demand in the long-term for Russian Arctic energy resources. The pace of these changes could come as early as the 2040s, creating very serious economic challenges for the Russian Federation and its Arctic development ambitions.

It should not be surprising that development of the Russian maritime Arctic is a top down, Russian state directed, enterprise. In most respects it is a legacy of the Soviet era, with the Arctic region and resource-based activities heavily dependent on central government financing for infrastructure, and subsidizing schemes for industry, mainly through tax incentives. The entire development enterprise is a complex array of key stakeholders and actors including private companies (for example Nordnickel and Novatek), state-owned enterprises (such as Gazprom), central government ministries, regional governments, and unique state agencies such as Rosatom, the Russian State Nuclear Corporation, which not only manages the nuclear icebreaker fleet but is the key developer of marine infrastructure for the NSR.

The importance of Russian Arctic energy and minerals resources to the national economy cannot be overstated. Two key state documents signed by President Putin in 2020 indicate the breadth of Russias Arctic interests and priorities: a foundations or policy paper released on March 5, 2020 (Foundations of the Russian Federation State Policy in the Arctic for the Period up to 2035); and a comprehensive strategy released on October 26, 2020 (Strategy for the Development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation and Provision of National Security for the Period up to 2035). These are core documents which highlight the states interests in Arctic natural resource development, further increasing traffic along the NSR (specifically a push for making the NSR an international waterway), and addressing foreign military-security threats to Russias Arctic national interests. President Putins direct involvement in shaping these policies and strategic plans is consistent with his unwavering support of Russian Arctic development during his long tenure. Since his presidency can continue to 2036, these plans should plausibly remain intact. However, the long-term role of Arctic development in a post-Putin regime is uncertain and the picture is more complicated given future global commodities markets and changes in demand away from carbon-based economies.

The largest and most formidable military-security presence in the Russian Federation is located on the Kola Peninsula. The Russian Navy takes advantage of the year-round, ice-free conditions around the Peninsula in Murmansk, Severomorsk, and other surrounding regional ports. A rebuilding Northern Fleet can effectively deploy from this Arctic location its maritime power out into the Arctic and Atlantic oceans as it did during the Cold War. Russia has also recently re-built and enhanced small air bases on the outlier Arctic islands north of the Russian coast. In summary, Russia has regained sovereign control of its marine and air spaces in its northern regions despite reduced budgets. Military units can conduct large-scale defense exercises within its Arctic EEZ and coastal zone, and they can use the large marine space for advanced weapons testing and research.

How this newly gained control meshes with the civil maritime transportation system, and increasing use of Arctic waters by commercial ships, remains unclear. The nuclear icebreaker fleet operated by Rosatomflot can support the Ministry of Defense in maintaining year-round access to all bases and civilian ports; the icebreaker fleet can also escort naval vessels during any summer operations along the NSR and escort any ships transferring between the Kola Peninsula and the Pacific. Competing interests between the defense and commercial development sectors involve national funding and waterways control. The two are vying for public funding for critical infrastructure and hardware to meet the needs of their differing Arctic strategies. And the two communities have different notions about how to control Russias Arctic waterways. While the Ministry of Defense seeks to tightly manage and control marine traffic within Russias EEZ, Arctic development planners and commercial firms (shipping, mining, oil and gas interests) see a more open marine transportation system attracting more foreign-flag ships. Achieving a future balance between the long-term security and economic interests of the state will require high-level presidential and ministerial leadership and tight management oversight.

Advanced technologies play important roles in the development of Russias Arctic marine transportation system and coastal zone, as well as in future offshore oil and gas developments and communications systems. Foreign technology transfers and international (economic) sanctions early in the 21st century are key factors that deserve consideration in evaluating the uncertainties in the regions future. Sanctions have essentially blocked the transfer of Western offshore drilling technology to Russia. Marine technology transfer is best illustrated by the design and construction of the initial fleet of fifteen large LNG icebreaking carriers that currently service the Yamal LNG project, operating from the Ob Gulf to markets in Europe and Asia. The ship design was developed by the Finnish marine firm Aker Arctic Technology in Helsinki and the vessels were constructed in South Korea by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Company. The ships unique Finnish design allows independent operations in ice, without icebreaker escort, in nearly all navigation seasons along the NSR.

The flagships of the Russian Arctic fleet, potentially the most prominent Russian ships in the maritime world, are the nuclear icebreakers. The long history of applying Russian civilian nuclear power to ships dates to the operation of the worlds first surface nuclear ship, the icebreaker Lenin, in service in 1959. The newest icebreakers in service in 2021 and 2022, the Arktika and Sibir, are the worlds most capable icebreakers and can operate in deep water and the shallower gulf waters of the Ob and Yenisey rivers for escorting commercial ships. Other innovative technologies have been applied to a range of capabilities: a floating nuclear power plant, the Lomonosov, now serving the city of Pevek in the Russian Far Northeast; new Russian Navy and FSB icebreakers for naval operations and law enforcement; a floating Arctic observation ship, the Severny Polyus (North Pole), for Arctic research; and, the nuclear (icebreaking) commercial ship Sevmorput, operating since 1988 along the NSR. New fiber optic cables and other communications systems will be employed, and further advanced monitoring and surveillance systems for the entire Russian maritime Arctic should be expected. Advancing technologies to the Russian Arctic will remain a significant enabler of effective and safe cold regions operations.

Governance of Russian Arctic waters is driven by a complex suite of international rules provided by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and specific domestic legislation with several laws dating back to the Soviet era. In 1985, the USSR Council of Ministers established by decree a system of straight baselines enclosing the bays, gulfs, and main navigation straits along the Arctic coast, making them internal waters of the Soviet state. The legal status of these waters remains controversial particularly in view of the elimination of the right of innocent passage by foreign ships. Having signed UNCLOS in March 1982, the Soviet Union quickly established its twelve-nautical mile territorial sea and 200-nautical mile EEZ to gain sovereignty over its fisheries and seabed resources. Russia, in more recent years, has focused on applying UNCLOS Article 234, the so-called ice navigation clause, which provides the coastal state with powers to enforce nondiscriminatory pollution prevention, reduction, and control laws within waters of its EEZ that are ice-covered for most of the year. Much uncertainty remains how Article 234 applies to polar waters where Arctic sea ice has retreated. Russia has also defined the NSR water area as most of the Russian Arctic EEZ except for the Barents Sea. In this huge area, rules under the administration of the NSR include mandatory pilotage in select areas and fees for icebreaker escort and support.

A significant, current issue is Russias plan to implement and enforce the International Maritime Organizations International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (the Polar Code), whose mandatory regulations were finalized in July 2018. With the Polar Code, special NSR regulations from domestic laws, and expansive application of UNCLOS articles, the Russian maritime Arctic is among the most closely managed and controlled marine spaces in any ocean. Such a governance regime will remain contentious and could limit international ship traffic in future decades.

State investment and subsidizing strategies for private industry are key to the overall development of the Russian North. Foreign investments are also important for specific natural resource development projects, and they indicate more regional integration with the global economy. However, these historic investments add a significant element of uncertainty to the long-term prospects and viability for these commercial ventures. An example of cooperative domestic and foreign investment can be seen in the Joint Stock Company Yamal LNG that developed the LNG1 facility and port of Sabetta on the Yamal Peninsula: The Russian private gas firm Novatek owns 50.1%, and three foreign investors are involved in the remaining ownership: the French national oil and gas company Total, the China National Petroleum Corporation, and Chinas Silk Road Fund. A second LNG facility (LNG 2) on the eastern shore of the Ob Gulf has been joined by investors from a Japanese consortium led by Mitsui and the Japan Oil, Gas, and Metals National Corporation. Notably only one of the initial fifteen LNG icebreaking carriers operating out of Sabetta is owned by a Russian shipping company, Sovcomflot, and the remaining ships are owned by five international shipping companies, with three of the firms owned by investors in Japan, China, and Singapore.

Overall, major economic drivers Arctic natural resource developments, Russian and foreign investment strategies, global commodities prices, and the economics of the global shipping enterprise will continue to be most influential and weigh heavily on shaping the future of this region.

The future of long-term investments in Russian Arctic energy sources is uncertain. So too are investments in the development of select hard minerals which could experience higher future demands. The Yamal gas project represents a key case study for understanding the financial risks and challenges of future foreign investments in the Russian Arctic, a relatively recent factor of influence in the region.

These seven drivers of change illustrate the complexity of factors and broad challenges facing the future of Russias maritime Arctic. Uncertainty reigns and this select list is only a baseline view of an Arctic region undergoing extraordinary change. Additional plausible factors and wild cards driving change loom large: demographic shifts in the Russian North; greater investment and trade links with China; emerging roles of the Russian Arctic Indigenous peoples; potential marine accidents involving naval or commercial vessels; regional and central government political stabilities; changes in public funding priorities for Russian Arctic development; and doubtless more technological, social, and economic megatrends to come.

Anthropogenic climate change for all of Russia, especially historic warming in the RussianArctic, is a certain game changer and disruptor with profound national and regional consequences. Increasing Arctic marine access responding to sea ice retreat will continue to provide opportunities for expanded shipborne trade. Unanticipated geopolitical events or crises will surely influence state Arctic policies and strategies, but the primary national strategy of Arctic resource development would likely be maintained under most scenarios. Overall, major economic drivers Arctic natural resource developments, Russian and foreign investment strategies, global commodities prices, and the economics of the global shipping enterprise will continue to be most influential and weigh heavily on shaping the future of this region. The remote and tightly managed Russian maritime Arctic will have long-term roles in linking Russia to the global economy, but their evolution and future trade partnerships are uncertain.

Lawson W. Brigham, PhD, is a Global Fellow in the Wilson Centers Polar Institute and a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. A career U.S. Coast Guard officer, he commanded icebreakers on the Great Lakes and during Arctic and Antarctic expeditions.

Cover photo: Nuclear icebreakerYamalescorting a convoy along the Northern Sea Route on July 14, 2016. Knyazev Vasily/Shutterstock.

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The Russian Maritime Arctic | Wilson Quarterly - The Wilson Quarterly

Testing, quality control, checking for bugs, managing cybersecurity. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year. Being part of a quality assurance (QA) team is no easy ride. The aforementioned processes are often conducted manually and as such are time consuming, repetitive, and resource-intensive. According to one study, 26% of developer time is spent reproducing and fixing failing tests, which totals 620 million developer hours every year. Perhaps most concerning is that, due to their manual nature and the requirement to monitor and test almost continuously, these processes are also prone to human error.

About the author

Claus Topholt is CPO and co-founder of Leapwork.

Many businesses have been relying on manual software testing for years. And, (many!) years ago this was probably adequate: the business software market was in its infancy, only larger corporations with resources and digital skills were adopting software, and the pace of tech development was arguably slower. Today, this is far from the case. While the approach and workflow of QA teams may have remained the same, the digital economy and business landscape are unrecognizable.

Businesses are increasingly digital-first, with more software being built and customized into a company's infrastructure than ever before. Large enterprises which were founded before the online era are now undergoing digital transformation, which should be acknowledged as an ongoing evolution as opposed to a one-off turning point. Born-digital firms and start-ups, on the other hand, are entering the market with software-heavy businesses but struggling to find the tech talent to manage this infrastructure.

The covid-19 pandemic has forced enterprise organizations to accelerate their digital transformation strategies far more aggressively than they ever expected. Everything from work to leisure to education has moved online almost overnight. In fact, a McKinsey survey of executives estimates that covid-19 has accelerated digital transformation across business by seven years.

For end users this has clear benefits: we can engage with brands whenever, wherever and however we like. We can collaborate with colleagues, communicate with loved ones thousands of miles away, crunch millions of data points to reveal business insights,. etc. etc. etc. However, with this reliance on software, QA teams everywhere are faced with an impossible task to continuously test everything 24 hours a day and prepare for releases faster and faster, while everything continues to change. And herein lies the problem.

Most software failures and bugs can be traced back to manual processes and human error. The impact of this is huge. One study estimated that software failures are costing the enterprise market $61 billion annually. Failures are also reputationally damaging. UK bank TSB, for instance, suffered an IT meltdown which saw more than two million customers locked out of their accounts, followed by an embarrassing investigation, and the departure of its CEO.

Its not just brand damage and bottom lines that are impacted. When the UKs national health service experienced a computer failure, GPs found themselves unable to access critical blood and X-Ray results, and medical appointments were unable to take place, creating a backlog for care. Critical sectors like healthcare as well as areas like utilities, heavy industry and smart factories cannot afford to drop the ball on software testing. Businesses must find a way to allow their systems to continuously update not only out-of-box solutions, but highly customized software too. It's a problem that cant be solved by adding more testers to the team, making test automation a fundamental requirement for all enterprises.

The case for test automation really is a no-brainer. By leveraging test automation, companies can test greater volumes of software, while simultaneously removing the risk of human error and reducing application errors by as much as 90%. This approach can also cut down on the time spent on data testing preparation by some 80%, while feedback cycles are accelerated. Less repetitive, time-consuming manual tasks means more of a QA team members time is freed up to pursue tasks that deliver business value and job satisfaction.

Automation also solves another critical industry challenge: the digital skills shortage. A combination of stricter border controls, geopolitical tensions, restricted movement due to covid-19, and the Great Resignation has resulted in many businesses struggling to find the experience and tech talent needed to prevent damaging software failures.

Can businesses rely on UK talent going forward? It looks unlikely. The UK government released a report last year which found that 72% of large companies and 49% of SMEs were suffering tech skill gaps. This is further illustrated by findings from Work Skills UK: 60% of businesses believe that their reliance on advanced digital skills is set to increase over the next five years. However, less than half believe that young people are leaving education with sufficient advanced digital skills and 76% believe that a lack of digital skills would hit their profitability.

The adoption of automation by businesses would tackle this, with automated testing platforms reducing the (ever-growing) number of manhours needed for testing, and removing the challenge of hiring additional talent. So why is it then, when the business case for test automation seems to be so straightforward, 85% of all testing is still done manually, according to the 2021 World Quality Report; the same number as 10 years ago?

The reason that most organizations are still relying on manual testing is trivial: The enterprise automation tools available on the market have not evolved to overcome todays serious challenges. These solutions often referred to as low-code, are far too complex for business users, and typically require professional-grade coding skills to use.

To scale test automation it needs to be easy for businesses to implement automation at scale using their existing resources, allowing testers to build test logic based on real business processes. This is where only no-code test automation solutions has the power to enable organizations to democratize test automation. If enterprises want to successfully adopt and implement test automation at scale, they must listen to the needs of QA managers, test managers and testers, and adopt practices that regular business users can work with in the long term.

Because whatever happens, testing, quality control, checking for bugs, managing security is - and always will be critical to a functioning digital economy. Businesses can innovate (and drive revenue) with the knowledge that their software is failsafe. Consumers and end-users can take advantage of digital services with the knowledge that their data is secure. The difference between pre-pandemic and today, is that these processes no longer need to be reliant on human input and at risk from human error. In fact, due to the current tech landscape and pace of development, they no longer can be.

Automating software testing utilizing a visual no-code approach will be the only way of futureproofing businesses, safeguarding users, addressing the tech skills gap and giving QA teams the opportunity to pursue more valuable tasks. All of which will support the growth of the digital economy while allowing new projects to be tested and new ideas to flourish.

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Unity Fiji Leader and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Savenaca Narube. Photo: Unity Fiji

Unity Fiji Leader and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji Savenaca Narube says there is no such thing as smart borrowing and there was no need whatsoever for the government to borrow to avoid devaluation last year.

Narube says the Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is barking up the wrong tree and misleading the people.

He has made these comments following Sayed-Khaiyums response to questions by fijivillage where he had stated that if the government did not borrow the money, we would have had a devaluation of the Fijian dollar which would have caused enormous socio-economic issues.

Narube says the Fiji dollar is pegged to a basket of currencies and to maintain this basket peg, we must hold sufficient foreign reserves. He says if foreign reserves dropped to a critically low level, the peg comes under pressure, and we may have no choice but to devalue or even abandon the peg altogether.

He says Sayed-Khaiyums logic that he needed to borrow offshore last year to support our foreign reserves is pure propaganda.

Narube says foreign reserves are very high at 11 months of imports of goods and services, more than double the accepted benchmark for Fiji of 5 months of imports therefore, if the government did not borrow from offshore last year, foreign reserves would have remained at above 8 months of imports, well above the acceptable level.

Narube maintains there was no pressure at all for a devaluation.

He further says as incomes have dropped by $2 billion in the last two years, demand for imports are depressed and import payments had declined by 5% up to September last year.

Narube adds the higher remittances and the sale of shares of EFL also supported foreign reserves and therefore, there was no need at all to borrow to avoid devaluation.

He also says Sayed-Khaiyum went on to say that COVID had significantly reduced revenue and the Government had to borrow otherwise the economy would have been worse off.

He says this logic is flawed as the first thing that a smart government should have done in such a situation is to reduce the large wastage in the budget which would have avoided borrowing and save Fiji from interest payments and fees which are already costing the country $400 million a year.

Narube also states that the removal of wastage would have raised the impact of total government spending on the economy which would offset any impact of lower expenditure.

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Narube says the most efficient strategy to sustain growth and avoid debt is for the government to revive the ailing resource-based industries.

The former Governor of the RBF also says it is unusual for a loan agreement to stipulate that down the line, the loan can become a grant however he is not aware what is in the loan agreement.

Narube was reacting to Sayed-Khaiyums comment that a part of some of the long term loans will in fact become a grant.

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There was no need for the Govt to borrow to avoid devaluation last year - Narube - Fijivillage