Category Archives: Resource Based Economy

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh's independence this year, we have highlighted our achievements as a country. Indeed, our country's success story in the economic and social arenas are spectacular. From an extremely poor country with high population, undiversified economy and poor infrastructure, Bangladesh has become a lower middle-income country and will graduate from the Least Development Country (LDC) group to the Developing Country group in 2026. A shining example among the other LDCs, Bangladesh's economic and social performances also outshine other South Asian countries in many respects. Economists have analysed the reasons behind this performance quite extensively.

On the eve of the 50th Victory Day of Bangladesh, a number of international media also asked me if democracy was necessary for development. In fact, there are sporadic discussions among certain quarters in the country on the necessity of democracy in the development process. There are also attempts to redefine democracy conveniently. While the political scientists are in the most suitable position to provide a wholesome explanation of the concept, an educated mind also understands the basic concept of democracy.

Theoretically, in a democratic environment, there are better opportunities for economic, social and cultural growth. Democracy is also crucial for sustainable development in the long run. Many scholars, including Milton Friedman, argued that a higher degree of rights led to economic development. Empirically, the relationship between growth and democracy is inconclusive. There exist innumerable studies that discuss whether democracy is necessary for growth. Some empirical studies indicate that democracy does not have much relevance for economic growth. On the other hand, more recent studies concluded that democracy has a significant impact on economic growth.

In my opinion, when we try to link or delink development with democracy, two aspects must be kept in mind. We must comprehend the meaning of both these terms. To start with, by democracy we do not merely mean expressing individual choices by taking part in the electoral process. It is not only about voting in a government in a countryit is about the participatory process in all development efforts of the government of the day. It is about social and institutional transformations where personal growth and welfare are considered integral. It should be a right to have an improved quality of life which is valued and respected.

This brings us to the other concept: development. Though we often use "growth" and "development" interchangeably, the depth of these two concepts varies. Growth is a narrow concept that only captures the rise in income, while development entails a deeper meaning of progress. It is about all-encompassing advancement in human life. Therefore, even with a high growth rate, a country may not be necessarily developed. From that perspective, the United Nations categorises countries based not only on per capita income, but also on human asset index and economic vulnerability index. The World Bank, on the other hand, divides countries based only on income. A high-income country may not necessarily be a developed country. The danger of income-based progress is widely known. It only looks at income per capita and ignores the quality of life and other non-economic requirements of human beings. Growth-based progress also ignores inequality, distributive justice, and inclusivity. It denies the basic rights of a human being. It is no wonder that, while countries are economically progressing, inequality is also increasing around the world.

Therefore, when examples of undemocratic countries are brought up as stories of economic success, these aspects remain absent in the perspective. Recently, China is cited by many as a case study, where the economy is growing fast even in an undemocratic environment. This is an utterly short-sighted proposition that contradicts the whole concept of development itself.

Singapore, under the leadership of former President Lee Kuan Yew, is also cited by many. He transformed a third world country into a first world nation within only three decades. However, the other side of the growth story is not encouraging. While Singapore prospered phenomenally at that time, dissenting views were not tolerated. The rule of Lee Kuan Yew is compared with that of an autocrat, who would intimidate any opposition in his way. Therefore, one must not lose sight of the suppression faced by its people. On the positive side, efficiency, honesty, corruption-free administration, absence of red tape, and tax benefits facilitated foreign investment and trade. There was no compromise on discipline in the country. This is unthinkable in countries like Bangladesh, where corruption and politics go hand in hand.

It is surprising to see such discussions of the so-called benevolent dictatorship surface in a country whose people fought for its own democracy and economic emancipation in 1971. Have we not seen that, despite the economic progress of then Pakistan, the eastern part of the country (Bangladesh) was deprived of all the benefits? The centre of power was located in West Pakistan, and people in East Pakistan had no rights. So, the rights had to be acquired at the cost of blood and lives. And then again, after independence, people's voices were suppressed by the military and autocratic regimes for a long time. Economic growth was not stalled, but that was not necessarily distributed among all. Dysfunctional democracy with little or no accountability and transparency benefited mostly those who were in or close to power.

Bangladesh is at a crossroads now. It has made impressive economic and social progress over the last five decades. But a lot more should be done in the coming years if it has to fulfil the commitment of establishing a just societyas enshrined in the constitution. Unfortunately, the circle of beneficiary groups created around political power is becoming larger and stronger day by day. That circle is hijacking the benefits of growth, leaving the larger communities behind. High and wilful bank loan defaults, cheating innocent customers through malpractices in the e-commerce sector, corruption in the health sector, poor quality of education, illegal land and forest-grabbing, pollution of waterbodies, violence against women, and reckless killing through road accidents are some of the examples that reflect how these unacceptable practices continue to remain unabated despite high growth. People's voices are either suppressed or unheard in most cases.

So, democracy should also be about getting the opportunity to take part in determining an individual's own interest, rather than having others' interests imposed on them. Transparency in resource allocation and its utilisation, accountability of resource management, protection of human rights including freedom of expressionall of these are components of the democratic package and essential for inclusive development. Hence, the true meaning of democracy should lie in empowering people through enabling their participation in the electoral and development process. Freedom through free and fair democracy is a defining component of a long-lasting development process. The journey of the highly developed and strong democratic countries vindicate this experience. Bangladesh's next important goal should be to achieve a strong democracy in all spheres: economic, social, cultural, and political.

Dr Fahmida Khatun is the executive director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

More here:

The unbreakable link between development and democracy - The Daily Star

Dr. Joyce L. Malainy| Guest Columnist

Recently, C-TEC hosted a visitor from California, a writer and podcaster with a national audience, who had never seen Ohios delivery of Career Technical Education (CTE) and wanted to do so.

His questions and comments as he toured our Secondary and Post-Secondary Centers reminded me just how important C-TEC is to our students and local economy. And while it seems so much of the news is dominated by the negative indicators in the economy and the difficulties our employers are having in meeting their workforce needs, that visit and his impression of the importance of CTE reassured me that we are on the right path.

While I am certainly more than a little biased, I am proud that the Career and Technology Education Centers of Licking County is our communitys career technical educational resource of choice. All of ushigh school students and adults need and want more security and better career opportunities, and C-TEC helps make those goals attainable. Too often financial and scheduling factors play a role in someone not being able to make a positive change. We try to address that in a variety of ways so that attending C-TEC is a possibility for anyone.

At the secondary center, we work closely with a students high school so that they can attend C-TEC and receive career technical training, earning industry-recognized credentials while meeting home district graduation requirements. Through our various school-to-work opportunities, we are helping local employers address their workforce needs and provide valuable work-based learning experiences as a part of the high school curriculum. What a tremendous win-win for our students and regional business and industry partners. Additionally, we prepare our secondary students for options after high school including apprenticeships, and articulation to our post-secondary partners. And we do this with an average high school graduation rate of 98%.

On the post-secondary (adult) side of the campus, we strive to keep the costs low, and schedules flexible while delivering the skills and credentials our business partners need. Our costs are lower than our for-profit competitors and our results demonstrate firsthand how much we rely on student success to push us to work harder to do what we do. The extraordinary work put out by the post-secondary staff during these last years of upheaval due to the COVID-19 pandemic attests to that fact. In fact, our Post-Secondary Center was recently voted the Best in Higher Education in Licking County for the second year in a row!

C-TEC also continues to work closely with various partners to collaborate to bring about successful outcomes for our community. Consider our work with the Ohio to Work (OTW) initiative. OTW started as an initiative created directly in response to the pandemic to connect employers with the skilled workers they need, and to help Ohios job seekers find meaningful employment. OTW helps job-seeking Ohioans not only get back to work but move forward into promising, well-paying careers in manufacturing, IT, and healthcare. The initiative is the culmination of organizations working at the state, regional and local level. Our Post-Secondary Centers eagerness for collaboration and partner growth is something I am very proud of.

Based on our history, I am confident that C-TEC of Licking County will continue to be a source of good news and opportunity for the residents of central Ohio for many years to come.

Joyce L. Malainy, Ed.D. is the Superintendent of the Career and Technology Education Centers of Licking County

Read more:

Malainy: C-TEC delivers strong career technical education for the community and it shows - The Newark Advocate

BOSTON The Baker-Polito Administration today announced the selection of two offshore wind projects, Mayflower Wind and Vineyard Wind, to move forward to contract negotiations to provide a combined total of 1,600 megawatts (MW) of clean and affordable energy to Massachusetts ratepayers.The selected projects, in combination with two previous projects procured since Governor Charlie Baker signed comprehensive energy legislation in 2016, bring the total amount of offshore wind procured by the Administration to approximately 3,200 MW, enough clean energy to power 1.6 million homes. Todays announcement, made by Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides at the Wind Technology Testing Center in Charlestown, also advances critical economic development priorities for the Commonwealth while securing significant clean, affordable, and resilient energy for Massachusetts residents and businesses.

Massachusetts has been a national leader in the offshore wind industry and todays announcement is another major milestone with the selection of two projects that double the amount of offshore wind power secured by the Commonwealth, said Governor Charlie Baker. The bipartisan energy legislation our Administration worked with the Legislature to pass in 2016 has unlocked record low pricing and significant economic investment through three separate procurements, and the projects selected today further illustrate the potential offshore wind presents for our climate goals, our local workforce and our port communities.

This historic procurement builds on our administrations continued investments in climate and clean energy policies that have helped reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions in the Commonwealth, said Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito. These procurements have increased the emphasis on environmental justice and workforce diversity, maintained cost-effectiveness and increased the size and scale of the solicitation, securing significant benefits for Massachusetts ratepayers.

The selected projects include a 400 MW proposal from Mayflower Wind and a 1,200 MW proposal from Vineyard Wind. The Mayflower Wind and Vineyard Wind bids were selected for contract negotiations based on criteria established under a Request for Proposal (RFP) released by the Administration in May 2021. In this procurement, the Administration bids included enhanced criteria for economic evaluation of the benefits for ratepayers, the projects ability to foster employment and economic development in the Commonwealth, the projects environmental impacts and impacts on Environmental Justice (EJ) communities, the extent to which a project demonstrates that it avoids or mitigates impacts to regional commercial fisheries, and the bidders proposed plans to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of the project. As a result of a stringent review, a portfolio of proposals from both bidders was determined to provide the greatest overall value to Massachusetts customers by delivering a combined total of approximately 1,600 MW of offshore wind capacity per year while providing substantial ratepayer benefits.

During the bidding process, both Mayflower Wind and Vineyard Wind proposed wind energy at a competitive price and with substantial economic development opportunities for the Commonwealth. By selecting a portfolio of projects from both bidders, the Commonwealth will secure impressive investments in job creation and economic development. Bidders also responded to new provisions in the solicitation, included by the Administration for the first time, that required plans to support diversity, equity and inclusion, including Workforce Diversity and Supplier Diversity Program plans. Bidders were also required to describe proposed strategies to actively promote access to employment and contracting opportunities for minority, women, veterans, LGBT and persons with disabilities. Bidders also included assessments of impacts, both positive and negative, on EJ populations in the Commonwealth, and plans for investments and engagement with affected communities. The Department of Energy Resources (DOER) will work with the winning bidders to track and report on progress towards their commitments regarding economic development, environmental justice, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

In structuring the Commonwealths third offshore wind procurement, the Baker-Polito Administration focused on delivering enhanced economic benefits for Massachusetts residents, affordable pricing for ratepayers, and the development of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce, and the projects selected through this competitive process deliver on those critical priorities, said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides. Offshore wind is the centerpiece of Massachusetts climate goals and our effort to achieve Net Zero emissions in 2050, and this successful procurement will build on our national clean energy leadership and the continued development of a robust offshore wind supply chain in the Commonwealth.Commonwealth Wind is more than just one project, it is part of an effort to build a clean energy infrastructure including the transformation of ports around our state as well as jobs and training that will support this clean energy industry decades to come, said President and CEO of Avangrid Renewables Offshore, Bill White.We are proud that Commonwealth Wind will help realize the vision of Governor Baker and the leaders of the Massachusetts Legislature in pioneering this new American industry.We talk often of the jobs created directly by offshore wind but just as important to the success of this industry are the jobs that can and must be created in both the US supply chain and in the overall service of the industry, said Lars T. Pedersen, CEO of Vineyard Wind. Commonwealth Wind builds on both of these goals by expanding the base of the industry to both the South Coast and the North Shore including bringing the first tier 1 manufacturer to the state, in addition to investing millions of dollars to increase diversity and inclusion, not to mention innovation. Were very proud of this project and truly honored to be selected by the Baker-Polito Administration.This new agreement for an additional 400MW includes over $42 million in economic development initiatives across the South Coast region, said Michael Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Mayflower Wind Energy LLC. In addition to creating approximately 14,000 jobs over the life of the project, we also will build our Operations and Maintenance port in Fall River and work with Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding of Somerset to design and build our crew transfer vessel. All of this is on top of the $77.5 million in benefits expected from the first 800 MW of the project. This win is the result of the extraordinary collaboration between our team and the many communities and stakeholders we have worked with over the past six months. It also reaffirms the quality and competitiveness of our bid which delivers immense community value and low-cost renewable energy.

Today marks another exciting milestone in our journey to produce clean, affordable energy for our residents while doing our part to address the climate crisis, saidSenate President Karen E. Spilka. I am proud of the efforts Massachusetts continues to make in fostering our green economy. I am equally excited to take on new challenges in the fight to reduce harmful carbon emissions. I also want to congratulate Vineyard Wind and Mayflower Wind on their successful bidding process.

Todays announcement moves Massachusetts one step closer to achieving the ambitious offshore wind energy goals that the Legislature is continuously advancing, said Speaker of the House Ronald J. Mariano. We look forward to continuing our progress in making Massachusetts a national leader in clean energy.

This procurement will be crucial in helping the Commonwealth reach its goal of contracting for a total of 5,600 MW of offshore wind energy and reaching the net-zero goals established by the Legislature earlier this year in the Roadmap Bill, said Representative Jeffrey N. Roy, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy."Thanks to the leadership of Speaker Mariano and my legislative colleagues, Massachusetts will remain competitive in the burgeoning offshore wind industry and our continued clean energy progress will be tied to progress in economic development, environmental justice communities, and diversity, equity and inclusion within the offshore wind industry.This round sees a wise balance struck between economic development, on the one hand, and protection against excessively high monthly electric bills for families, on the other, said Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change Chairman Michael J. Barrett. Going forward, this can serve as a model for us. So todays announcement is important in its own right and important as a valuable precedent.

"Offshore wind electricity production is a critical component of our state's strategy to gain energy independence and achieve very ambitious carbon emission reduction targets," said Senator Minority Leader Bruce Tarr. "The selection of these two projects signals not only progress and commitment toward those goals, but also a robust field of producers who are willing to supply our needs on competitive terms."

As part of the Administrations RFP drafting process, for the first time under a Section 83C procurement, the Distribution Companies and DOER released the draft RFP for public review and received numerous public and stakeholder comments. The RFP built on the Commonwealths previous national leadership for offshore wind procurements, and included changes made in response to the public comments, consultations with state agencies, and lessons learned from prior solicitations. The RFP was also amended to address recommendations DOER made at the conclusion of its offshore wind energy transmission investigation.The selection of a portfolio of projects from Mayflower Wind and Vineyard Wind concludes a rigorous solicitation and evaluation by DOER and the Commonwealths Electric Distribution Companies: Eversource, National Grid and Unitil. Additionally, the solicitation was monitored by an Independent Evaluator that was jointly chosen by DOER and the Office of the Attorney General and was responsible for overseeing the process to ensure that all proposals were evaluated in a fair and nondiscriminatory manner.

The selection of a 1,600 MW portfolio of projects represents substantial progress towards the Commonwealths current authorization of 5,600 MW of offshore wind energy. The first procurement resulted in executed and approved contracts with the Vineyard Wind 1 project for 800 MW, the first large-scale offshore wind procurements in the United States. The second procurement resulted in executed and approved contracts with the Mayflower Wind Low-Cost Energy project for 804 MW of offshore wind. The combined energy output of the selected and contracted offshore wind projects represents approximately 25 percent of total Massachusetts annual electricity demand.

Massachusetts has pioneered the offshore wind development on the East Coast and todays announcement marks our third commercial-scale offshore wind procurement off the Commonwealths shores and highlights the diverse economic and environmental benefits from this resource, said Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Patrick Woodcock. Cost-effective deployment of clean electricity is imperative to reach our long-term climate requirements and we are encouraged that this portfolio of projects build upon previous leadership by enhancing economic development benefits, improving equity and environmental justice within project plans, and maximizing the utilization of our existing transmission system.The final acceptance of the bid(s) and award of contract is conditional upon successful contract negotiations between the parties and regulatory approval at the DPU. At the time of contract filing with the DPU, a public filing will be provided by the Electric Distribution Companies detailing the evaluation process. Separately, the Independent Evaluator will prepare and submit a detailed public report on the evaluation process and outcome. Final project selection as a result of successful contract negotiations will be made public following submittal for regulatory approval. More information on the selected project, process, and timeline can be found here.

In March of 2021, Governor Baker signed comprehensive climate change legislation that increased the Administrations authorization to solicit an additional 2400 Megawatts of offshore wind, bringing the states total commitment to 5,600 Megawatts.

###

See the original post:

Baker-Polito Administration Announces Historic Selection of Offshore Wind Projects to Bring Clean, Affordable Power to the Commonwealth - Mass.gov

Reports to : Program Coordinator

Position type: 1-year fixed-term contract, renewable

Application deadline: 14 January 2022

Organizational Context

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a US non-profit organization founded in 1895. Its mission is to preserve wildlife and wilderness by understanding critical problems, developing scientific solutions and taking conservation actions that benefit nature and humanity. With more than a century of experience, long-term commitments in dozens of landscapes, a presence in more than 60 countries, and experience in the creation of more than 150 protected areas around the world, WCS has accumulated the biological knowledge, cultural understanding and partnerships needed to ensure that wild places and animal species thrive alongside local communities. Working with local communities and organizations, that knowledge is applied to address species, habitat and ecosystem management issues critical to improving the quality of life of rural people whose livelihoods depend on the direct use of natural resources.

The WCS Health Program is central to delivering on our mission to save wildlife and wild places around the globe. Wildlife, livestock, and human diseases will likely have a significant impact on the future development of sustainable land uses, protected areas, transboundary natural resource management, other biodiversity conservation approaches, and livelihood opportunities in many of the landscapes and seascapes where we work. Our work at the interface of wildlife, domestic animal, and human health has demonstrated that a One Health approach can build new constituencies for conservation and strengthen existing ones, while mitigating a key threat to conservation.

WCS Congo Program Overview

Over the past 30 years, WCS Congo has been the governments principle conservation partner, assisting the Ministry of Forest Economy (MEF) in managing wildlife and its habitat in several of the countrys national parks, reserves, and protected area buffer zones. Within these sites WCS is developing and implementing actions for effective wildlife protection; community based natural resource management; ecological monitoring; scientific research; and environmental education. The program is the largest in WCSs global portfolio and reports to the Regional Program for Central Africa and Gulf of Guinea. WCS Congos current portfolio of programs includes the management of the Nouabal-Ndoki National Park (NNNP) through a Public-Private Partnership with the Government of Congo, wildlife management in the substantial buffer zones of the Park, co-management of Lac Tele Community Reserve, a national program to support reform of marine conservation and resource management, and a substantial policy support program to the central government in Brazzaville.

For over 15 years, the Wildlife Health Programme (WHP) implemented by WCS Congo in partnership with the National Laboratory of the Congolese Ministry of Health, has been working to monitor wildlife mortality and minimize the risks of disease transmission to communities. This OneHealth project raises awareness among communities in northern Congo and has set up an early warning system for unexplained wildlife deaths that covers more than 30,000 km2. The WHP is responsible for the care and release of African Grey parrots, as well as any other seized animal brought to the rehabilitation center of the Nouabal-Ndoki National Park. Also, this program covers an expanding disease surveillance and diagnostics program of research on bats conducted in collaboration with NIH and other stakeholders, as the trade and consumption of bats is becoming more common in urban areas.

Position Summary

We are looking for a motivated, dynamic Technical Advisor with a strong interest in international wildlife conservation, and a particular interest in issues at the nexus of wildlife health, domestic animal health, and human health to provide overall programmatic support to the WCS Congo Wildlife Health Program and our broader One Health strategic vision.

The successful candidate will be highly organized, with wildlife health experience, excellent communication skills, and a strong interest in field-conservation and capacity building. This is a full-time position.

The WHP Technical Advisor will support the WCS Congo WHP Lead and a small national team of staff. He/She will report to the WCS Congo Program and will collaborate closely with our Global WHP team of specialists based in New York and around the world. He/She will be based in Brazzaville, but significant travel to our field office in Ouesso and to our field sites throughout the country is expected.

Main tasks

The WHP Technical Advisor will have the following responsibilities:

Ensure overall coordination of WCSs wildlife health project portfolio - including technical and operational support to project activities to ensure effective and timely implementation for project activities

Provide on-the-job mentoring and support to the WCS wildlife health national staff in executing project activities

Act as primary point of contact for existing and future grants funding WHP activities in Congo, and assist in grant management and reporting on project implementation

Contribute to achieving WCSs national and landscape visions through integrating wildlife health activities into ongoing landscape conservation programs, and supporting the implementation of site-level conservation activities;

Support the development of new One Health initiatives in Congo;

Regularly communicate with the WCS Global Health Program to harmonize activities and external communications with the WCS wide One Health in Action strategy

Act as primary point of contact for partners and collaborators both inside and external to Congo, to ensure effective planning of activities and field missions;

Assist in preparation of permits and shipping authorizations for export of samples for WCS and collaborator projects;

Support the WHP Lead and in other WHP projects and activities across Congo, as required;

Identify and document lessons learnt, and collect information for case studies;

Undertake any other relevant duties as may be needed.

Qualifications and experience required

An Advanced Masters Degree in Science, Development, Conservation Science or any related topic would be preferred;

Background knowledge of One Health, disease surveillance networks, outbreak response, and epidemiological tools used to monitor wildlife health, preferably with field-based experience;

Demonstrated project management skills including workflow and budget planning, prioritizing tasks across multiple project components, mentoring projects teams, and delivering on deadlines

Proven computer proficiency, particularly in word processing;

Fluency in French and English is required;

Interpersonal skills and the ability to interact with a wide variety of individuals;

Willingness to travel, particularly to field sites;

Interest in wildlife and conservation and a commitment to the mission of the Wildlife Conservation Society

Read the rest here:

Technical Advisor to the WCS Health Program - ReliefWeb

At the start of the Biden administration, the president made a consequential decision to retain the Executive Order on Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain, which was issued by President Trump and prohibits the import of information and communications technology and services (ICTS) from foreign adversaries. The executive order and its implementing regulations (together, the ICTS rules) are a critically important effort to prevent capable foreign cyber actors, notably China and Russia, from exploiting the open nature of the U.S. ICTS market. Notwithstanding this strong security rationale, the industry has heavily criticized the ICTS rules as overly broad and vague. To address these concerns, the Department of Commerce, the agency that leads the implementation of the ICTS rules, committed to implement a voluntary licensing process, which would allow transacting parties to apply for preapproval of their ICTS transactions. The objective of the licensing process is to provide certainty to transacting parties, allowing them to engage in nonrisky, commercially beneficial ICTS transactions without fear that the government will seek to unwind or ban the transactions in the future.

While laudable in intent, establishing a licensing regime based on the current structure of the ICTS rules is likely to fail. This is simply a matter of numbers. According to the Commerce Departments own assessments, up to 4.5 million firms may engage in ICTS transactions on a regular basis. Opening up a licensing process for anyor allof these firms would likely lead to an unmanageable flood of applications, forcing the department to divert its extremely limited resources to processing licenses for ICTS transactions that may not present any genuine national security risks. The department will inevitably be pressured to narrow the scope of the ICTS rules in order to effectively manage the licensing process, which would erode the national security benefits of the rules.

To address these challenges, the Commerce Department should restructure the ICTS rules to adopt a sanctions framework by creating a new list of entities that would be prohibited from selling ICTS into the U.S. market. In other words, this could function as an ICTS sanctions list. An ICTS sanctions approach would mirror the regulatory structure of existing U.S. sanctions authorities, preserving the broad authority and discretion of the government to respond to evolving threat and technology environments. A designations process for listing sanctioned ICTS entities, along with the scope of ICTS transactions subject to a prohibition, would provide much needed certainty to the private sector. This approach avoids the need for a resource-intensive, generally available voluntary licensing process, as the ICTS designations list would provide bright line rules around which transactions are or are not prohibited.

Plugging the Gap in Authorities

The ICTS rules address an urgent need to fill gaps in the U.S. governments ability to prevent foreign cyber actors from exploiting ICTS sold in the U.S. market. Importation of information and communications technology goods and services is generally unrestricted under the United States open market system. The United States does implement certain targeted restrictions for national security purposes, including screening of foreign investments, controls on the export of sensitive technology, and licensing for the provision of international telecommunications services and submarine cables landing in the United States. Prior to the ICTS executive order, however, none of the existing authorities squarely addressed risks associated with the imports of ICTS that may be corrupted by foreign adversaries. Notably, the United States had no direct authority to prohibit Huawei from selling 5G equipment into the U.S. market, though U.S. authorities took a number of other measures that restricted Huaweis commercial activity with U.S. entities. The intent of the executive order was to provide an additional layer of defense, supplying the government with an authority to prohibit the narrow set of ICTS transactions that present a high risk to U.S. national security and are otherwise unreachable under U.S. law.

How the ICTS Rules Work Now

The ICTS executive order sets out a three-part test to determine whether an ICTS transactionor class of ICTS transactionsis prohibited. The implementing regulations set out broad parameters for how this three-part test will be interpreted by the government, but ultimately the secretary of commerce will assess on a case-by-case basis whether an ICTS transaction meets the criteria. Each of these criteria is intentionally designed to preserve maximal discretion for the Commerce Department and to ensure that any ICTS transaction that may present risk is subject to the rules.

First, the transaction must involve ICTS, broadly defined as any technology product or service used for the purpose of information or data processing, storage, retrieval, or communication by electronic means, including transmission, storage, and display. The implementing regulations provide further guidance on six categories of ICTS of particular interest, while carving out handsets from the rules. The regulations should be interpreted as mildly helpful guidance rather than a meaningful narrowing of the scope of jurisdiction, given that the six categories themselves are immensely broad and include categories such as critical infrastructure and software designed to connect with or communicate over the internet.

Second, the ICTS involved in the transaction must be designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied, by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary. The implementing regulations adopted a country-based approach to listing foreign adversaries, determining that China and Russia, among other named countries, are foreign adversaries for the purposes of the ICTS rules. The regulations did not establish clear guidance on how transacting parties should evaluate whether or not they are owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary. For example, the rule does not clarify frequent scenarios that arise in the context of cross-border transactions, such as minority ownerships, passive investment stakes and joint ventures. As a result, companies that have any part of their ICTS supply chain in a foreign adversary country must operate on the assumption that their ICTS transactions are subject to this rule.

Third, the ICTS transaction must present an undue risk to the integrity or resiliency of U.S. ICTS or critical infrastructure systems, or otherwise pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of U.S. persons. If the secretary determines that a covered ICTS transaction presents undue or unacceptable risk, the secretary may prohibit the transaction. The secretary makes this determination based on the Commerce Departments internal investigation of specific ICTS transactions, aided by intelligence support and subpoena power. Companies do not know whether they are subject to an investigation until fairly late in the process, when the department informs them that a prohibition is under consideration and they are provided an opportunity to respond to the governments findings, to the extent that such findings may be shared with the companies on an unclassified basis. The net effect establishes a framework that places heavy emphasis on government discretion and enforcement actions.

The Commerce Department has signaled that it intends to selectively enforce the ICTS rules and that companies generally need not worry unless they are informed that they are the subject of an investigation. Despite those assurances, companies are clearly worried about the significant amount of regulatory risk that they must assume under the ICTS rules and will therefore have a strong incentive to seek a voluntary license. That voluntary preclearance process remains unclear, as the department has not yet published draft regulations on the matter, though it has solicited comments on whether export controls or the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) presents a viable model for an ICTS voluntary licensing process. Neither of these models is likely to resolve the underlying tension among the governments need to retain broad discretion over a vast swath of transactions, the private sectors legitimate commercial need for certainty, and the interest that both have in an administratively efficient licensing process.

The Export Control Model

Export controls present a policy objective parallel to that of the ICTS rules, in that both regulatory systems seek to control the types of cross-border transfer of technology that companies engage in on a regular basis. To implement an ICTS licensing process comparable to that under export controls, the Commerce Department would need to develop a rulebook that is similar to the Commerce Control List (CCL). The CCL lists technical specifications of each technology controlled under the departments export control authority, along with the licensing requirements for each technology. A significant challenge in crafting an ICTS analogue to the CCL is that many of the ICTS included would be standard commercial items, rather than items that have advanced performance characteristics or potential military applications as are included in the CCL. The ICTS list would have to include any item that is potentially corruptible by a foreign adversary, which is predominantly a function of who controls the supply chain rather than the technical characteristics of the item.

Another challenge is that the idea of a voluntary licensing process is inherently at odds with the structure of export control license requirements, which mandate that the technology export cannot proceed absent affirmative approval from the government. To fully adopt an export control licensing process, the Commerce Department would need to establish mandatory licensing requirements for particular classes of ICTS, rather than establishing a process in which companies can pick and choose when they apply for a license on a voluntary basis. Establishing a complex new control list with the accompanying licensing policies would be an intensive, multiyear process and would result in tens of thousands of license applications annually. It also is inconsistent with the Commerce Departments current approach of prioritizing select enforcement actions while maintaining broad discretion to investigate other transactions in the future. Perhaps for these reasons, the department appears disinclined to adopt an export control licensing model.

The CFIUS Model

The CFIUS framework for screening foreign investments is a second model for the Commerce Department to consider, though one that applies to a markedly different set of transactions than envisioned under the ICTS rules. CFIUS is a regulatory burden that transacting parties must endure only on a sporadic basis, as foreign investments that trigger CFIUS jurisdiction are infrequent events rather than part of a companys day-to-day business. In this context, CFIUS can efficiently maintain broad jurisdiction across all sectors of the economyincluding all classes of technologiesand operate a voluntary preclearance or safe harbor process without overwhelming the administrative capacity of CFIUS.

Applying a similar broad scope of jurisdiction and safe harbor framework to the ICTS rules is less likely to succeed, given the substantially larger number of transactions covered by the ICTS rules. Any of the up to 4.5 million companies engaging in an ICTS transaction on a regular basis will have the ability to seek review, and many will feel compelled to do so in order to gain regulatory certainty. One might reasonably anticipate license applications reaching the level of those seen under export controlstens of thousands of applications annuallygiven the similarities in the types of transactions targeted. In contrast, CFIUS reviewed just over 300 transactions in 2020, reflecting the less frequent nature of foreign investment transactions. Even at enhanced staffing levels, the Commerce Department will be overwhelmed by the resulting volume of license applications, losing its ability to focus on transactions of highest risk. The departments 2022 budget request asks for only 13 additional staff for ICTS rules implementation, which would fall far short of the level of effort required to implement a licensing regime. In contrast, Commerces export licensing process is staffed by 175-200 employees and the Department of Treasurys CFIUS team has approximately 100 employees, though neither of these figures accounts for the significant numbers of staff in other agencies that support both processes.

To adopt a safe harbor framework that could be administered efficiently, the Commerce Department may be forced to narrow the legal scope of the ICTS rules substantially. For example, the department could promulgate further regulations to define a smaller set of ICTS transactions that are most critical for U.S. communications infrastructure or set clear quantitative thresholds (such as 51 percent ownership) to determine when an ICTS transacting party is controlled by a foreign adversary. However, narrowing the jurisdictional scope of the ICTS rules raises troubling questions about what risks would be left on the table. CFIUS, for example, recently expanded its jurisdictional scope to cover a broader range of minority ownership transactions, in response to concerns that even small ownership stakes can raise national security concerns in certain circumstances. Further guidance on the ICTS transactions of greatest concern may ameliorate the licensing crush to a certain extent, though it is unlikely to address the fundamental issue that vast numbers of transactions will remain subject to the ICTS rules.

Moving to a Sanctions Model

Given the challenges in adapting the ICTS rules to either an export control licensing or a CFIUS safe harbor model, the Commerce Department should consider whether a sanctions framework may most effectively meet the policy objectives of the ICTS rules. As currently structured, the ICTS rules focus on targeting transactions rather than entities. At the same time, the department has issued subpoenas to an unspecified number of Chinese companies and has indicated that it intends to enforce the rules selectively. This results in a mismatch between the ICTS rules as writtenbased on regulating large swathes of ordinary economic activityand how the government intends to enforce the rulesby targeting a small number of bad actors. Moving to an entity-based framework similar to sanctions programs would more closely align the structure of the rules with the governments intent.

To establish an ICTS sanctions list, the department can use its authority under the ICTS executive order to determine that particular persons are foreign adversaries, rather than making this determination on a countrywide basis as the ICTS rules currently do. This would require the department to create a list of designated entities for the purposes of the executive order. When the Commerce Department designates an entity, it can then also identify the scope of ICTS transactions for which U.S. persons would be prohibited from engaging with the designated entity. For example, an ICTS sanctions listing could involve designating Huawei as an ICTS sanctioned entity and prohibiting the acquisition, importation, transfer, installation, dealing in or use of any Huawei router equipment. Thus, the listing process involves both an entity designation and a scoping of the transactions prohibited pursuant to the designation. This designation process would not be limited to prohibiting transactions on a case-by-case basis, as the current ICTS rules are constrained to do and that may result in uneven enforcement actions across the range of U.S. companies that may be engaging in ICTS transactions with foreign adversaries. Instead, prohibitions would holistically apply to any current or future transactions involving the designated ICTS entity and the ICTS transactions listed in the designation. As intelligence reporting and the governments risk assessments warrant, additional entities or types of technologies can be added to the ICTS designations list.

This approach also eliminates the need for a cumbersome and unworkable voluntary licensing process. The designation process provides the private sector bright lines rules for which transactions are prohibited, thus reducing the uncertainty that has so troubled the private sector under the current structure of the ICTS rules. The department should retain the flexibility to issue general and specific licenses, though these licenses will be fundamentally different in nature than the voluntary preclearance licensing process currently envisioned by the Commerce Department. Under the sanctions-based approach, licensing will be limited to providing exceptions to transactions that are otherwise prohibited under an ICTS sanctions designation. For example, a temporary license could be used to allow U.S. companies to smoothly transition away from the products of the ICTS designated entity as part of their natural technology replacement cycle rather than forcing them to undertake a disruptive and costly rip-and-replace effort. While administration of an ICTS sanctions program will still be resource intensive, the Commerce Departments limited resources can be put to better use by focusing on intelligence gathering, investigations, and enforcement rather than the unnecessary processing of thousands of voluntary license transactions of ICTS transactions that may not present national security concerns.

The ICTS sanctions approach should incorporate certain elements of the existing ICTS rules related to due process and enforcement. The current rules provide companies subject to an investigation with the ability to respond to unclassified information on which the government relied to make a determination. Companies should have a similar ability to respond to an ICTS sanctions designation, as a matter of due process and to ensure that government designations are made using the best possible information. The Commerce Department should establish processes for regular engagement with the private sector to understand the economic impacts of a designation and the full impact of a designation on complex global supply chains. For similar reasons, the department should establish a robust interagency review process, internal checks and balances, and high levels of political review to protect the integrity of the investigation and designations processes. The ICTS sanctions approach should also retain the strong enforcement teeth provided for in the ICTS rules, which ultimately derive from the International Emergency Economic Powers Acts enforcement provisions. Persons who engage in prohibited transactions should be subject to stringent civil and criminal penalties.

The ICTS rules will be a critical part of the governments efforts to mitigate national security risks associated with the involvement of foreign adversaries in the open U.S. economy. Reframing the ICTS rules to adopt a sanctions-based approach is the most effective way to maintain broad government discretion to address a rapidly evolving threat environment while providing U.S. firms the clarity they need to responsibly manage their complex supply chains.

Visit link:

Using a Sanctions Framework to Fix the ICTS Executive Order - Lawfare

IT spending in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is forecast to total $1.7 billion in 2022, an increase of 2.6% from 2021, according to a recent forecast by Gartner.

The recovery of the IT sector in MENA will continue in 2022, said Miriam Burt, managing vice president at Gartner. In 2022, digital transformation projects will advance moderately from 2021.

The rise of renewable energy and the subsequent dip in oil prices due to COVID-19 expedited the transition towards a knowledge-based economy to reduce the regions dependency on oil exports.

The advent of 5G, an increase in a digitally skilled local workforce, and rapid digitalization of sectors such as banking and retail, will present a growth-conducive environment for IT spending in the region through 2022.

Communication services will continue to be the largest segment in 2022, making up 66% of total IT spending in 2022. IT services will emerge as the fastest-growing segment in MENA in 2022, forecasted to grow 8.6%, followed by the software segment which is expected to grow 8.2%. Devices will be the only segment expected to decline in 2022.

Ehab Kanary, CommScope Infrastructure EMEA, Emerging Markets Sales VP, said: Virtualised networks have proven to help companies manage data handling and work without the need for physical intervention (allowing to) gain several key insights towards network performance, overall network health, and resource consumption. Also, Cloud networking-as-a-service can eliminate the difficulties of infrastructure management.

Ray Kafity, VP META at Attivo Networks commented: Cybersecurity was one of the fortunate sectors immune to the impact of the virus. But enterprises undergoing transformation or moving to the cloud need to be wary of the rising threat of credential-based attacks, which are attributed to nearly 3/5thof all cyberattacks. As IT spending rises and more and more people move to cloud-based services, they need to deploy Identity Detection & Response solutions that supplement the traditional ones to thwart such attacks.

Saudis cybersecurity market is expected to witness a 13% growth in spending in the coming years, reaching 3 billion Saudi Riyals ($810 million) on an annual basis in line with the current digital transformation in the Kingdom, according to a press release by the Saudi Telecom Company (stc).

For his part, Rodrigo Castelo, VP MEA at OutSystems said: More apps will be developed in the next two years than in the entire history of the software industry. There will be an incredible wave of innovation, and the companies that are best prepared to succeed are those that can manage constant change, address software development talent shortages, and adopt the latest technology and processes.

Global IT spending

Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.5 trillion in 2022, an increase of 5.5% from 2021, according to the latest forecast by Gartner.

John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner commented: Digital tech initiatives remain a top strategic business priority for companies as they continue to reinvent the future of work, focusing spending on making their infrastructure bulletproof and accommodating increasingly complex hybrid work for employees going into 2022.

Enterprise software is expected to have the highest growth in 2022 at 11.5%, driven by infrastructure software spending continuing to outpace application software spending. Global spending growth on devices reached a peak in 2021 (15.1%) as remote work, telehealth and remote learning took hold, but Gartner expects 2022 will still show an uptick in enterprises that upgrade devices and/or invest in multiple devices to thrive in a hybrid work setting.

In 2022, CIOs need to reconfigure how work is done by embracing business composability and the technologies that accommodate asynchronous workflows, said Lovelock.

A look at 2020 IT spending

2020 saw the biggest recorded surge in spending on technology in more than a decade, according to the Harvey Nash report, as companies invested in technology to help them manage the pandemic.

Cloud computing saw a big jump from 2020, when 69% of digital leaders reported some kind of presence in the cloud, to 90% today. Around 60% of digital leaders said their companies had implemented big data or data analytics projects.

The number of organizations investing inrobotic process automation(RPA) has also grown as companies seek to improve the way they interact with their customers through the internet.

Around 30% of organizations jumped on theinternet of things(IoT) to develop services, which can range from fitness gadgets to devices that monitor medical conditions.

Nascent technologies such asquantum computinghave also seen rising investment, with around 3% of organizations reporting that they have implemented the technology.

Read the rest here:

Key elements of IT spending in 2022 revealed - Middle East & Gulf News - AMEinfo

Australia and Bangladesh have concluded the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) on 15 September 2021 to boost their trade and investment partnership. This agreement includes 'skill development and education services' as one of the listed high priority areas of bilateral cooperation (s 3). Bangladesh has become one of the fastest growing economies in South Asia and plans to be a middle-income country by 2030 and developed country by 2041. This vision warrants a mission of developing its human resources, an engine of growth capable of achieving this goal and identifying and addressing the challenges of sustainable development from now on to 2041 and beyond.

Higher education in Bangladesh is at crossroads, often failing to meet growing demand for quality educated and skilled workforces in the economy. It encounters the shortage of infrastructure, lack of enough qualified teachers, dearth of facilities, dominant government regulation, and paucity of sufficient research works by the academic community (WB tertiary education review 2019). The government policy of widening higher education has mushroomed public and private universities with less focus on their quality of education. The existing universities have performed poorly in recent International University Rankings (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022). Given such lacklustre performances, Bangladesh is set to face serious shortage of educated, skilled, and knowledge-based workforce, a human capital with high efficiency and productivity. This deficiency is recognised in its National Education Policy 2010 with a shift of emphasis on improving the quality of performance. The World Bank partnership report for Bangladesh 2016-20 emphasises on building human and social capital.With its far-reaching economic goal of continuing development, Bangladesh will soon not only need to improve its higher education but also become a major importer of higher education services.

Trade in higher education is dominated by developed countries including Australia. Although the UK, US, and Canada are engaged in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, with its sufficient exportable surplus higher education services, enjoys comparative advantage and the predominant flows of Asia-Pacific students studying in Australia. This advantage in human skills and qualities, together with its proximity and suitable climate, have positioned Australia to enjoy the most competitive edge as one of the major exporters of higher education services to Bangladesh. Australia is already engaged in bilateral trade in other sectors with Bangladesh, which is the 30th largest trading partner. Australia imports textiles, clothing, leather goods and footwear from, and exports agricultural and dairy products, minerals, metals, and industrial raw materials to, Bangladesh. The advent of TIFA is a turning point, providing a framework for harnessing their trading complementarities and synergies to promote and deepen their bilateral economic cooperation and integration through trade and investment of mutual interest. The fast-rising urbanised middle-class young population of Bangladesh has a strong appetite and zeal for higher education, which should attract Australian exporters and investors to export higher education services to Bangladesh. Australia is well suited for investing in higher education services by establishing branches of higher education institutions in Bangladesh where Australia has already an established brand name record. Engaging in higher education in Bangladesh may serve an alternative pathway for Australian tertiary institutions' student recruitments, an insurance against embargo on Australia-bound Chinese students as a part of China's trade restrictive measures amid challenging bilateral tensions, and the changing geo-economic and geo-strategic landscape in Asia surrounding the South China Sea and Taiwan.

Trade in education services is an important component in Australia's trade in services, which reflects the core objectives of its National Strategy for International Education 2015 and Market Development Roadmap 2025. Students from Bangladesh have long been drawn to study in Australian high-ranking universities, English-speaking environment, employment opportunity, and comfortable lifestyle. This trend of Bangladeshi students studying in Australia as consumers of Australian education services has increased in recent years. TIFA can open prospects for further structured and augmented bilateral trade in higher education services.The National Education Policy of Bangladesh 2010 recognises higher education as a driver of economic and social development and creator of responsible citizens to address ever growing social inequality. Its Strategic Plan for Higher Education 2018-2030 reiterates the government's resolve to improve higher education to be of international standard. Its Perspective Plan 2021-2041 seeks to harness the demographic dividend by creating a knowledge-based economy propelled by a well-educated and trained labour force.

Bangladesh had protected its higher education sector from foreign entry and competition in its higher education sector under the Private University Act 2010. However, in response to mounting pressures on cost efficiency and high productivity in its developmental pursuit, Bangladesh has introduced limited deregulation and privatisation of this sector by restructuring and reforming in its higher education market. It has now diversified its higher education sector and allows the establishment of foreign university branch campuses or study centres under the 'Foreign University, Its Branches or Study Centres Operating Rule' of 31 May 2014. Under this Rule, foreign universities directly or through their local representatives, joint venture initiatives with any local university or investors may be allowed to establish and operate branches or study centres in Bangladesh subject to the approval of the higher education regulatory body the University Grants Commission (UGC).The 2014 Rule has created domestic import options and foreign export interests on a bilateral and case-by-case basis. This liberalisation is likely to attract foreign higher education services providers and related foreign investment. Several British universities have expressed their willingness to establish offshore campuses in Bangladesh (Daily Star, 6 March 2021). Australian universities should seize the opportunity by providing in-house higher education services in Bangladesh.

The Foreign Private Investment Act (No. XI) 1980 of Bangladesh legally protects foreign investment against arbitrary nationalisation and expropriation (s 7), and guarantees most favoured nation treatment, non-discriminatory national treatment between foreign and local investment (ss 4, 6), and repatriation of proceeds from sales of shares and profit (s 8). Foreign exchange, remittance, and profit repatriation may not require approval from the Bangladesh Bank, but are subject to government approval, limitations and to be done through authorised Dealers. The 2014 Rule requires an income and value added tax payment letter from the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies under the Company Act 1994 (s 7).

Australian education services providers, universities, and other tertiary institutions can play a complementary role under TIFA in providing higher education services in Bangladesh either independently or through joint venture and partnership initiatives in collaboration with any local university or investors, to establish and operate local branch campuses and teaching facilities, twinning arrangements, subsidiaries, or franchises in Bangladesh under the 2014 Rule. Such an arrangement would alleviate physical and financial resource constraints, which will be an incentive for many local students to opt for Australian standard higher education in Bangladesh. Importing quality higher education services from Australia will improve local human resources with international standard of skill and expertise in Bangladesh. This will significantly reduce the current massive outflow of Bangladeshi students going abroad for quality education and educational exodus for employment in foreign countries, thus arresting 'brain drain' to contribute to its gross national products.

Branching out Australian university campuses in low-cost Bangladesh would minimise operational costs and promote internal competitiveness among higher education institutions.The availability of cost-effective Australian standard higher education and research may attract foreign students from neighbouring countries of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East in higher education institutions in Bangladesh, affording an external source of revenue for these institutions and internationalising their prestige and reputation.The global visibility of high-quality attributes of higher education institutions are critical for attracting good students and staff - academic, administrative, and support alike. This human capital-building venture would make Bangladesh self-reliant with leverage in bilateral and multilateral negotiations in international relations. The benefit of such development will also tickle-down to secondary and primary levels of education.

The TIFA Joint Working Group may be assigned the task of initiating bilateral policy dialogue for a collaborative andmutually beneficial plan of trade in higher education services. Both countries must show that they are partners in building domestic education capabilities rather than a threat to each other's local providers. Should economic integration in higher education service eventuate, it would to be a rewarding experience for both parties because of their partnership, complementarities, and synergies in several sectors identified in TIFA.

The writer is Emeritus Professor of Law at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.

More:

Improving higher education in Bangladesh: A case for collaboration with Australia - The Daily Star

The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP-26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held in Glasgow from October 31 to November 13, 2021 with delegations from almost 200 countries participating. The strategic goal of the Summit was to sum up the results achieved during six years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015. Combating deforestation, phasing down of coal and increasing financial support for developing countries are among the successes of COP-26 however it revealed certain disagreements.

Conference of strategic importance

At the opening ceremony of COP-26, Chairman Alok Sharma stated that the decisions made in Glasgow should be more vigorous than those of Paris. In Scotlands largest city, the parties to the UNFCCC, after several unsuccessful attempts made in previous years, were again trying to hammer out the rules for implementing the Paris Agreement. In addition, the participants were discussing plans for adaptation to the consequences of climate change that can no longer be prevented. The agenda was really demanding.

Ambitious agenda but unfavorable background

There were four issues on the COP-26 agenda. Countries should: 1) submit programs on carbon emissions reduction to net zero by the middle of this century; 2) propose programs to restore affected ecosystems; 3) mobilize finance to achieve all the climate goals; 4) agree on a procedure for reporting on the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

However, a breakthrough was unlikely even before the Summit began. The G-20 meeting that had taken place the day before cast serious doubt on a multilateral climate agreement between the world s largest economies. The meeting in Rome resulted in the 20 states failing to reach an agreement on reducing the deadline for achieving zero emissions and abandoning coal-fired power. Although the G-20 states upheld the goal of limiting the temperature rise, some countries avoided making firm commitments on how to keep its growth beyond the threshold of to 1.5C.

Forest conservation: a step forward

Over 100 world leaders agreed on a declaration on stopping deforestation. The key point of the document was the joint work on stopping and reversing the loss of forests and land degradation by 2030. The states plan to increase investments in agriculture, in the conservation and restoration of forests, as well as in support of indigenous communities who are struggling due to deforestation.

This is one of the most significant achievements of COP-26 as among the signatories to the agreement was Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whom environmentalists recently accused in the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity over the deforestation of the Amazon region.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin in a video address to the forum on the protection of forests expressed confidence that the Glasgow Declaration will undoubtedly serve the goals of the Paris Agreement on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. He added that Russia, in an effort to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, relies, among other tools, on the unique resource of its trees, since about 20% of all forests of the world are located in Russia.

Abandoning coal: modest progress

Another meaningful issue on the COP-26 agenda was the abandonment of coal, and certain results were achieved as well. Firstly, major international banks pledged to stop financing coal-fired power plants by the end of 2021. Secondly, 40 countries made a commitment to gradually abandon coal-fired energy developed countries by 2030, developing by 2040.

At the same time, the Financial Times characterizes the wording of the declaration as vague as it does not set the exact deadline. The document states that the countries should abandon coal by a certain date or as soon as possible after its expiration. In addition, the main users of coal energy China, India, the US, Australia, Russia have not signed the declaration.

Alexey Kokorin, head of the WWF Russia Climate and Energy Program called the declaration a conditional agreement. The countries-signatories allocate certain financial resources to developing states so that they can abandon coal. If Russia had signed the agreement, it would have become a voluntary donor, not a recipient of climate finance.

At the same time, Jamie Peters from the environmental organization Friends of the Earth maintained that the key meaning of this unimpressive agreement was that everyone was allowed to continue using coal for many years to come.

Reducing emissions: methane on the agenda for the first time

Back in April 2021 during the virtual Climate Summit Russian President Vladimir Putin designated the reduction of methane as one of the main directions in combating global warming. During COP-26 the leaders held an event dedicated to the methane emissions reductions for the first time in many years. The US and the EU put forward a joint initiative on reducing methane emissions by 30% by 2030 which was supported by 105 countries.

China, Russia and India, three out of top five states in methane emissions, did not join the agreement. However, the initiative was supported by Brazil, the country which Climate Watch Data includes in the list of leading methane emitters.

The rationale for Russia not to join the initiative of the Western powers may be economy. In the countries that willingly sign up to the agreement, the share of the oil-and-gas sector is significantly lower than in Russia. According to Igor Makarov, head of the HSE Climate Change Economics Research and Training Laboratory, in Russia methane emissions are linked to both natural gas production and transportation. So, it is challenging for the country to take on such commitments right now.

According to Alexey Kokorin, there is no point in joining this initiative either ideologically (there is no China and India in it) or technically (it is necessary to deal with mine methane, leaks in gas and oil fields, which is more expensive than energy efficiency, energy conservation and forest fire control).

Russias position was also shared by some countries from the Anglo-Saxon world. For instance, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke out against a concrete deadline for phasing out coal and pointed out that accelerating the reduction of methane emissions by 2030 will result in high costs for farmers engaged in dairy farming and animal husbandry.

Carbon neutrality: commitments without breakthroughs

Among the main topics at COP-26 was carbon neutrality. Even though many leaders spoke of it the goals set vary both in deadlines and in feasibility. Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced that the PRC would strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. The Prime Minister of India promised to reduce emissions to zero by 2070, setting a zero target for the country for the first time. Environmentalists called the Indian presidents goals ambitious, but the Nature magazine noted that it was probably only about CO2, with other greenhouse gases being out of the plan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, addressing the summit virtually, maintained that carbon neutrality in Russia should be achieved by 2060. The international representative of Greenpeace characterized the goal as not ambitious enough.

Meaning of the final Glasgow Agreement

The stumbling block during the negotiations on the COP-26 final statement was Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. It envisages specific mechanisms for international the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. This is why the states had to prolong the summit till November 13. Additionally, this very article prevented consensus on the text of COP-25 held in December 2019 in Madrid, which resulted in a failure. COPs are far from punctuality. Out of 26 summits, only seven ended on time (on Friday) 14 ended on Saturday and five were held till Sunday.

The final agreement, published late in the evening on November 13, disappointed many parties. The wording of certain points was softened. For instance, instead of phasing out coal and other fossil fuels, the participants made an eleventh-hour decision to use phasing down. India, the third largest emitter, insisted on this change. Meanwhile, Special Representative of the President of Russia on climate Ruslan Edelgeriev stated that Russia welcomed the result. Nevertheless, the COP-26 final document has certain breakthroughs:

The participants of COP-26 touched upon the issue of the global green transition based on four principles: energy efficiency, decarbonization, decentralization and digitalization. Many important statements have been made during COP-26. The countries have promised to achieve carbon neutrality by the middle of the century, significantly reduce the extraction and use of fossil fuels, completely stop the processes of deforestation, allocate considerable funds for the green transition. However, COP-26 also has its disappointments: ambitions of many countries remained weak, mistrust between developed and developing countries increased, and the real reduction of emissions was partially replaced by compensations.

Although the declaration was signed by almost 200 delegations, every point of it sparks disagreement. The Glasgow Agreement will not replace the Paris Agreement. It acts as a rulebook on the implementation of the 2015 Paris commitments. It defines more concrete actions in financing measures to combat climate change, mitigating its consequences and adapting to the ongoing climate changes.

What awaits us in the future?

Climate Action Tracker has published a report that shows that the risks of rising temperatures in the world are even higher. Even with the current goals of emissions reduction, by 2100 the temperature in the world could rise by 2.4 degrees. It means that the strategies announced at COP-26 would not meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Today, the world can only effect the green transition by a gradual replacement of technologies. It is obvious that electricity has been and will remain the main energy source for humanity. But the question is: how to accumulate it more efficiently and more environmentally friendly in the new realities? Hydrogen is recognized as a viable option. At the same time, the issues of green transition and carbon emissions reduction are over politicized and often do not take into account regional peculiarities of the countries. For now, the easiest step to make is to continue focusing on energy conservation and energy efficiency.

Afterwards, it is necessary to reconsider the attitude to the types of energy generation and modernize them according to the environmental agenda. It is important to use technologies that meet economic needs and cause minimal harm to the environment. It means that Russia should rely on three main areas during the energy transition: nuclear power, hydrogen, and natural gas generation.

From our partner RIAC

Related

See the article here:

After COP26: Russias Path to the Global Green Future - Modern Diplomacy

HALIFAX - In early 2021 Simon Cusack sold his house out west and moved to the East Coast with his wife, son and one of Canadas most promising tech startups.

The co-founder of Rafflebox, which runs online raffles and fundraisers, came in search of the ocean, a better work-life balance and Halifaxs booming technology community.

We were very attracted to the startup scene here, said Cusack, who quit his job with Dell Technologies early in the pandemic to focus on Rafflebox full time as chief operations officers. The support for startups is incredible. Doors started opening for us as soon as we arrived.

Nova Scotia once known for its traditional resource industries, aging population and westward migration of workers is changing.

Today, the province is home to hundreds of fledgling tech startups and companies, an ambitious training plan and a growing population.

Experts say Halifaxs growing tech ecosystem is at the epicentre of the digital shift turning the province into one of the Canadas hottest tech hubs.

They say a growing network of startups, mentorship organizations, venture capital, training programs and government support is encouraging digital innovation, creating jobs and buoying the economy.

A strong support network is key to innovation, said Ellen Farrell, a management professor in the Sobey School of Business at Saint Marys University in Halifax. Isolation is a real problem for startups.

It didnt happen overnight.

Halifaxs tech workforce has steadily grown by 24 per cent in the last five years, according to global brokerage house CBRE.

It ranked the city seventh on a list of 25 emerging tech markets in Canada and the U.S., just after Albany, N.Y., and ahead of Providence, R.I., CBREs 2021 Scoring Tech Talent report said.

Across the province there are now more than 26,000 people working in Nova Scotias $2.5-billion tech sector, according to the industry association Digital Nova Scotia.

The burgeoning tech community has helped attract big players.

Toronto-based digital entertainment company Wattpad announced plans in late 2019 to open a second headquarters in Halifax.

The company, which is in line to receive payroll rebates from the province, now has 30 employees in the Halifax area and has plans to increase that to 100 people within five years.

The talent in Halifax is amazing across multiple disciplines, said Allen Lau, co-Founder and CEO of Wattpad. The talent pool is also very deep, its not just recent graduates.

But the problem is ensuring there are enough workers to meet future demand.

Take Halifax-based Redspace. The software company, a full-service digital studio specializing in video solutions, saw demand soar during the pandemic.

Two years of the entire globe stuck at home binge-watching video accelerated the transformation of the industry weve been serving, said Mike Johnston, president and CEO of Redspace.

Demand has never been more ... strong, he said. We have been growing and recruiting at a mad pace.

The company has hired 105 people so far this year, bringing the total workforce to about 300. But its still short 30 to 50 people.

We are constantly short-staffed, Johnston said. The salaries have gone up pretty dramatically ... everything is just on fast-forward.

Wayne Sumarah, the CEO of Digital Nova Scotia, said the pace of growth is expected to remain elevated.

We dont see it slowing down, he said. Our industrys largest challenge currently is labour.

The solution appears to be twofold: Expanding both the population at large and the tech workforce in particular.

The first is well underway. The province announced last week that Nova Scotias population hit a milestone of a million people following record growth during the pandemic.

Much of the growth was due to interprovincial migration, with many new residents hailing from Ontario and Alberta a reversal of a decades-long trend of people moving away for work.

After years of a declining population, the world is learning how special Nova Scotia is, Premier Tim Houston said in a statement. We have momentum and are growing.

To boost the provinces tech workforce, the Nova Scotia government stepped up with a solution last spring. It announced $16.8 million in funding to bolster computer science programs at four Nova Scotia universities.

Dalhousie University which received $13.3 million launched a campaign called Here We Code last month.

The Halifax school said it would double its computer science faculty and researchers and expand its computer science enrolment to more than 2,500 students as part of the campaign.

Nova Scotias tech community has been growing for years but COVID has been like jamming the foot down on the accelerator, said Andrew Rau-Chaplin, dean of the computer science faculty at Dalhousie University.

Its not going to stop, he said. People are giddy with the opportunities.

The issue is meeting the increasing demand for talent to ensure the tech sector can continue to expand here.

Every single one of our undergraduate co-op students and 100 per cent of our graduate students with internships as part of their program are placed, Rau-Chaplin said.

My sense is if we had twice as many students they would all be placed as well.

Rafflebox co-founder Cusack said the skilled workforce emerging from Dalhousie and other post-secondary institutions in Nova Scotia was one of the driving factors to relocate operations to Halifax.

We really wanted to open up our office here, Cusack said, noting that 13 of the startups 20 employees are now based in Nova Scotia. Were hiring another six here in January.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2021.

Continued here:

'Everything is just on fast-forward' How Halifax became a Canadian tech hub - Toronto Star

As we move towards a sustainable future, tech companies are trying to cut down their carbon footprint in the environment by reducing e-waste emissions and using reusable and recyclable materials for their products. Amongst others, Dell is one of the leading laptop brands that aim to drastically reduce the carbon footprint of their products and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years. So now, the US-based company has revealed a new design concept for a laptop that uses sustainable components and can be easily repaired by users using spare parts.

Dubbed as Concept Luna, the proof-of-concept laptop has been developed by the design team at Dell in collaboration with Intel. In a recent blog post, Dell detailed the laptop and highlighted the revolutionary design ideas that could drastically increase the longevity of the devices life cycle and allow recyclers to easily disassemble it for reusability.

Concept Luna explores revolutionary design ideas to make components immediately accessible, replaceable and reusablereducing resource use and keeping even more circular materials in the economy, wrote Dells CTO, Glen Robson. It was created to test what could be possible, not to be manufactured and sold. But if all the design ideas in Concept Luna were realized, we could expect to see an estimated 50% reduction in overall product carbon footprint, he further added.

So, Dells Concept Luna brings various design changes, both in the components department as well as the physical form factor, to make the laptop sustainable and easily repairable. For starters, the Dell Concept Luna laptop features an aluminum chassis that is smelted using hydropower energy.

Furthermore, the laptop has been designed with fewer screws and adhesive to help users easily disassemble the device for repairs. For instance, both the screen and the keyboard of the laptop can be easily taken apart by popping off the pair of keystones holding them in place. Plus, the laptop comes with a fan-less design as it uses a 75% smaller motherboard, placed at the top cover, to passively cool itself.

Now, although a shrunk-down motherboard could drastically reduce the amount of carbon footprint of the laptop, it could have less room for individual components and sockets. While all-in-one chipsets like the Apple M1 SoCs include the CPU, GPU, and the RAM on a single board, repair experts say it could have a devastating impact on the repairability of the devices as users cannot easily upgrade the storage of these devices.

Citing this issue, Dell reportedly told The Verge that the Concept Luna motherboard doesnt have any more soldered on or integrated components than a typical laptop we sell today. However, if that changes once the laptop becomes a reality, it could reduce the longevity of the device.

Apart from these, as the Dell Concept Luna laptop is designed to be long-lived and easily repairable, Dell says that it is currently working to expand its spare parts availability on online platforms to help users easily acquire components like screens and keyboards. You can check out an official promo video by Dell, showcasing the Concept Luna laptop and all its features, attached right below.

Now, coming to the availability of the Concept Luna designs in commercial laptop devices, Dells design strategist Drew Tosh says that the company still needs some time to validate the reliability of the design concepts. Nonetheless, Tosh expects most of these designs to be implemented in commercial laptops by 2030.

So, what do you think about Dells Concept Luna laptop? Do you think it would drive other companies in the industry to manufacture more sustainable PC and laptop devices in the future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for more interesting stories like this one.

More here:

Dell Shows off Concept Luna Laptop That Can Be Easily Repaired - Beebom