Category Archives: Resource Based Economy

The AUD/USD lost groundfor the third week in a row, pummeled by broad US dollar strength and a return of the COVID risk aversion trade.Austria instituted a partial lockdown and Germany contemplateda return to restrictions amid rising case counts that defyhigh vaccination rates in both countries.

A potential rate divergence surfaced with the US Federal Reserve moving towards rate hikes in 2022 and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) expecting none. On Tuesday, RBA Governor Philip Lowe noted that "the economy and inflation would have to turn out very differently from our central scenario for the Board to consider an increase in interest rates next year."

Chinese property market woes continued with negative implications for the mainland and Australias resource based economy. The US rating agencies Moodys and S&P expressed concern about the status of China Evergrande Group, with the latter considering a default highly likely at some point.

The AUD/USD fall was contained on Friday by the upward support line at 0.7240 that extends back to late August but the pair has lost 3.4% this month and 1.2% this week.

Australian economic information provided little this week to counter the strong results from the US.

The excellent US Retail Sales report combined with a Consumer Price Index (CPI) at its highest level since 1990, should keep the Fed on track to end its $120 billion bond buying program on schedule by June 2022. Evidence of a strengthening recovery may be sufficient for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to advance its taper timetable at the December 15 meeting.

Fundamental and technical factors do not favor the aussie. While higher US interest rates are mostly speculative, the Fed is officially behind ending its emergency interventions and has projected at least one fed funds hike. Meanwhile, Governor Lowes prediction weighs on the aussie.

The US economy appears to be accelerating in the fourth quarter after a weak 2% performance in the third. The Atlanta Fed GDPNow estimate for the final three months is currently running at 8.2%.

The US 10-year Treasury yield lost 6 basis points on Friday, largely on media notice that President Biden will announce the new Fed Chair this weekend. Current Chief Jerome Powell is considered the favorite but Governor Lael Brainard has been mentioned in the media as a long-shot. She is generally thought to be a bit more dovish hence the drop in Treasury rates.

With the AUD/USD resting on weak support, the 2021 low at 0.7130 from August should be in play with Septembers bottom at 0.7174 an interim stop.

Australian Retail Sales for October due on Friday will not change the economic scenario.

American information is heavily loaded on Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Durable Goods Orders for October should confirm the excellent Retail Sales release. The first revision to third quarter GDP may offer a slight improvement. Better results will support the dollar.

The bias in the AUD/USD is lower with scant support ahead of the years low.

FXStreet

FXStreet

FXStreet

FXStreet

The MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence) cross of the signal line on November 2 remains the dominanttechnical condition. The steady differential between the two lines indicates a negative tendency.The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has moved lower sinceNovember 12 but has not entered oversold status suggesting there are more losses ahead.

Thenearly conjoined 50-day moving average (MA) at 0.7354 and the 100-day MA at 0.7358 bracketedby resistance lines at 0.7350 and 0.7380 make a formidable 30 point band.The prevalence of resistance over support and the greater spacing beneath theFriday close indicate weakness to the September low at 0.7174 and the August and 2021 bottom at 0.7130.

Resistance: 0.7280, 0.7300, 0.7350 (0.7354 50-day MA, 0.7358 100-day MA), 0.7380

Support: 0.7240, 0.7225, 0.7175, 0.7130

The FXStreet Forecast Pollis bearish but expects the September low at 0.7174 to hold.

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AUD/USD Weekly Forecast: Fundamentals point the aussie lower - FXStreet

ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Syed Amin Ul Haque has said that Pakistan is committed to providing an environment where all our citizens can reap the rewards of a thriving digital economy, which includes a strong commitment to bridging the rural-urban digital divide through initiatives such as the Universal Service Fund.

The Pakistan government has a vision to further build a knowledge-based economy. Our membership of the DCO will continue to provide opportunities for collaboration between governments to develop an inclusive global digital economy, Federal Minister Syed Amin Ul Haque said while meeting a visiting delegation of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO).

The four-member delegation was led by Deemah Al-Yahya, Secretary General of the Digital Cooperation Organization. The DCO consists of 7 founding countries: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Nigeria and Oman. Secretary IT Dr Sohail Rajput, Member IT Syed Junaid Imam, Member Telecom Muhammad Omar Malik, Member International Coordination Ajmal Awan and other officials were also present in the meeting. On this occasion, the international delegation was given a full briefing on the initiatives and policies of the Ministry of IT.

Minister IT further said that the member countries of the Digital Cooperation Organization can take advantage of Pakistans IT professionals and their excellent English accent and world class talent. The creativity of freelancers and startups awaits foreign investors. The Ministry of IT, through its initiatives and projects, strives to provide the best internet and mobile services in remote areas of the country. Our goal is to bridge the rural-urban divide. The participation of the common man in the digital economy should be ensured while special measures are being taken to bring women in this field.

Syed Amin-ul-Haq said that under the Digital Pakistan Vision, exemplary work is being done in the field of information technology in Pakistan. Dozens of projects worth billions of rupees are underway in the IT and telecom sector, with the aim of providing the best internet and uninterrupted mobile services to the common man, increasing IT exports, establishing technology parks and policies to facilitate IT companies and freelancers are made, our goal is to eliminate urban and rural segregation and provide equal access to digital services.

He said that we are confident that our initiatives would help the common man and promote the digital economy. He said that the share of women in the IT sector has increased significantly in the last three years to ensure that millions of educated women at home become part of the digital revolution and earn a living, DCO countries can use Pakistan as a human resource hub, while steps are needed to improve the coordination of IT professionals and companies with member countries.

IT minister said that a great example of how facilities can be provided to the common man under public-private partnership is the Universal Service Fund (USF) of the Ministry of IT, of which not a single rupee belongs to the Government of Pakistan involve but through funding by telecom operators, broadband services are provided to areas where it is not possible for these companies to go directly as non-profit areas.

Secretary General DCO Ms. Deemah Al-Yahya said that we are very impressed with the environment of various digital companies and educational institutions of Pakistan. She said member states can benefit from IT initiatives, adding that Pakistan has witnessed a conducive environment for women in IT and education sector. At the Digital Cooperation Organization we are building partnerships with governments, the private and non-profit sectors wherever and whenever they have a meaningful impact in creating digital prosperity. I congratulate the Pakistan government on their initiatives to enable women and young people to benefit from the internet and digital economy, and look forward to strengthening our efforts in the years to come.

The DCO Secretary-General Ms. Deemah Al-Yahya championed the inclusion of women in the digital economy, and celebrated the achievements of Pakistan entrepreneurs: I am thrilled to have met young female entrepreneurs creating digital education and financial solutions for Pakistan and the world, who provide an exciting glimpse of what the future holds for this country. She added.

DCO secretary

general visits PTA

Secretary General for Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO), Deemah Al-Yahya visited Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) headquarters, Islamabad yesterday. Chairman PTA, Maj General Amir Azeem Bajwa (R) welcomed the secretary general.

The two sides discussed matters of mutual interest including enhanced cooperation in the field of information & communication technologies (ICTs), growth of digital economy and efforts to advance the Digital Pakistan vision.

The secretary general and chairman PTA agreed to further expand mutual collaboration for inclusive digital transformation and growth of digital industries. DCO is a global multilateral body, established in 2020, that aims to increase digital prosperity for all by accelerating the inclusive growth of the digital economy through cooperation among the member states.

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Govt has a vision to further build a knowledge-based economy: Amin - The Nation

MOTHER EARTHS HER CHILD (DETAIL) BY JESS X. SNOW/WWW.JESSXSNOW.COM

Click here to download this article as it appears in the magazine, with accompanying artwork.

Indigenous communities, particularly those of the Arctic, not only are on the front lines of the climate crisis but also are the engineers and economists of sustainability, and offer spiritual teachings of gratitude and deep relationship. Generating collective health and well-being requires spiritually and materially reconnecting our severed relationships to the land and each other.

All three of us live in Alaska. We descend from both settler and Native communities. For all of us, Alaska Native frameworks of reciprocity and intentional interdependence inform how we answer pivotal questions of our timeone being, What do reparations to the land look like after destructive mining, leaching of toxic pollutants, and irresponsible oil extraction?

We seek healing for the land itself. To engage in true climate justice work, we must be brave enough to consider reconciliation with places that have been harmed. We must all take accountability and turn to Indigenous leadership to help us remember how to live in and practice economies of care and compassion.

When we ask our Elders about the changes they have witnessed on our Arctic lands, they tell us stories of growing up in Alaska without cars, televisions, cell towersand with no English. Instead, they had rivers filled with fish, tundra filled with caribou, families joining together to hunt across the ice or line the smokehouse with summer salmon. They recount histories of this place with anthropological detail and serene reverence. But soon, conversations turn to the days those riches began to be taken away through compulsory boarding schools and proselytizing churches. The way their languages curved on their tongues was slowly lost, and the graceful curves of familiar rivers were similarly interruptedblocked by dams, poisoned by mines, and now heating to record temperatures, deadly to fish and other creatures.

Erasure of Indigenous connection to place was crucial for the colonial settlement of the lands that became America. Political leaders, the army, and the church worked hard to break this connection. When settlers arrived and colonization began, our economic systems were targeted for disruption and destruction: Indigenous nations were dissolved, removed, subjected to genocide, or assimilated across this continent to make way for private land ownership, profiteering from finite resource extraction, and imposing of Christian norms of patriarchy and cisnormativity.

As PennElys Droz of the NDN Collective explains, Removing a peoples means of providing for themselves is a cunning way to suppress and control them. A state of dependency was intentionally created, with the Nations having to look to their colonizers for survival assistance.1

This was the birth of our modern extractive economy, which sequesters wealth for the elite few (largely white, landholding, straight, cisgendered men). It was achieved by commodifying relationships through the transformation of land into money, and enslaving people into zero-cost labor.

When we converse with our Elders, the stories they tell are old onesstories of bounty and abundance, balance and reciprocity.2The climate crisis is not only a product of greenhouse gas emissions (which impact the Arctic landscape at twice the rate as the rest of the globe),3 but also of an ideological shift that was imposed by colonization and capitalism to justify violation of sacred land-, water-, and airwaysdomination that taught Americans to speak of resources instead of relatives.

This language shift is important to understand as we envision opportunities for growth and healing ahead of us. Today, the pain and trauma of separation from our Indigenous worldviews, evidenced by the imposed language, is being healed and integrated into our vision for the future. The Just Transition Framework4only began gaining widespread distribution in Alaska, in 2018, through collaboration with climate and justice advocacy organizations across the state. This framework, with roots in the labor movement of the 1960s, articulates the necessary shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative one. It realigns the purpose of the economy with the healing powers of our Earth, through ecological restoration, community resilience, and social equity. To achieve this, resources must be acquired through regenerative practices, labor must be organized through voluntary cooperation and decolonial mindsets, culture must be based on caring and sacred relationships, and governance must reflect deep democracy and relocalization.

However, when this language first began circulating in Alaska, our communities realized that there were both familiar qualities and foreign terms preventing us from reaching deep resonance with the growing movement. We needed to see ourselves in the work. When we asked our elders how they would describe this new vision, they told us in the Behnti Kenaga language, Kohtrelneyh (We remember forward).

This process soon led to the Kohtrelneyh Just Transition Summit, where, in January 2020, over two hundred community members from all regions of Alaska and many different industry sectors and background gathered.5 For days, we heard from community leaders and movement artists about renewable energy projects, food sovereignty, and cold climate agriculture. This was the last time many of us gathered in person. As the COVID- 19 pandemic sweeps across the world, the Alaska Just Transition Collective has coalesced online to articulate what a transitional economy for Alaska must look like. Now, we are pushing state and national recovery conversations to incorporate Indigenous sovereignty and stories from the land.

These acts of translating and centering Indigenous ways of knowing have similarly guided the Just Transition Collectives statewide work in support of the Green New Deal and the THRIVE Agenda,6 championed by over one hundred members of Congress. The THRIVE Agenda is considered the most ambitious and holistic investment structure yet proposed, ensuring that climate, jobs, and care (health and well-being), will be made at the scale, scope, and with the justice standards this time of transition demands. In partnership with communities across the state, we have published conversations and creative zines and toolkits,7 elevating what Indigenous regenerative economy and climate justice must look like for Alaska.

In Alaska, we are actively engaged in building the solidarity economy ecosystem that is required to finance a just transition beyond fossil fuels. We are meeting a need for Alaskan financial infrastructure that is by us and for us, is aligned with our values, and enables community stewardship of capital. We are cultivating grassroots processes to seed the regenerative financial infrastructure Alaskans need, so that funds are grown, invested, and distributed by and for our collective well-being.

As we shift to new paradigms of land, resource, and financial management, we must remember that this meaningful participation is an exercise of sovereign Native nations right to self-determination: Teeyagga Hutaan Kkaa Nin Dohoodeetunh (Native people hold the land with words; Koyukon translation by Eliza Jones). The goal must be to return to balance in all investments, industries, and sectorsinfusing justice and restoration throughout a new economy.

Indigenous economic frameworks for augmenting and redistributing abundance are key to informing how to approach economic recovery, and are needed now more than ever. Indigenous economies can counteract greed, the costs of which are increasingly apparent. For example, an important rite of passage in many Indigenous communities is sharing ones first catch and harvest with Elders. Hunters will give away the first of each animal they kill, weavers will give away the first baskets they make, harvesters will distribute the first berries pickedbased on familial responsibility and obligations to grandparents, aunties, teachers, and so on. This exchange is an act of reciprocity.

Traditional Indigenous economic frameworks center around ensuring the health and well-being of a community. The role of traditional leaders is to oversee the foundational functions to meet the communitys base needs for water, food, shelter, warmth, safety, and medicine. An economy is the exchange of time, talent, and treasure, and its purpose is to create stability. People generally want the same things but need to have shared understandings and expectations to reduce conflict and meet each others expectations. The growth of an economy also relies on creating trade or economic partners. In an Indigenous framework, economic partners are not only humans but also are plants, animals, fish, and other species. They are referred to as relatives or nations. This framing elevates these groups to being equals in the systems of exchange, and requiring respect. A core tenet of Indigenous economic structures is to increase abundance for all economic partners.

Reciprocity is another core tenet of Indigenous economic structures. When something is taken, something must be given, and even this is backward. Traditionally, it is understood that you give firstof your time, efforts, skills, prayers, and abundancewithout expectation of return but rather out of pure generosity, caring, and duty. The exchange is thoughtful and intentional, benefiting all economic partners. It is also understood that taking without reciprocity can and generally will lead to suffering. For instance, if all the fish are harvested and not any are left to spawn, then starvation will be the reciprocal experience.

The modern fossil fuel economy is based in extraction and pollution for maximum profit and individual gain from a finite resource in a closed system (Mother Earths biosphere). These activities have not had a balanced exchange of benefits with our natural economic partners, and have created what can be described as a debt to our relations and a grievous desecration against our Mother Earth. The fossil fuel economy has overextracted, and humans are in debt to our relations.

To re-form Indigenous economies and economies of care does not mean creating anew. Traditional ecological knowledge, collective experiences, genetic memory, and oral histories can guide action. What is required is an understanding on a global level of the urgency to bring forward from the past and into the futureas at other times of great transformation, the teachings of which cycle back to today. Taking these lessons and applying them to inform climate action, addressing the past harms of colonization, paying due reparations, and ceding land back integrate just land-management practices and infuse healthy human and more-than-human relationships, while continuing Indigenous ways of knowing and traditional practices. Traditional Indigenous economies will guide this time of global transformation, rooted in generational knowledge from living in eco- regions that require continual innovation and extreme resilience. As Elder Wilson Justin (Althsetnay, of the Headwaters People) shared with us regarding well-being:

Well-being is vital to good decision making present past and future Economy [in the Western extractive context] didnt exist in the world I came out of. When I grew up that term had no meaning or sense. The economy in [an] Indigenous worldview is health and well-being In its most basic component [well-being] is the ability to survive unexpected trauma, warfare, all kinds of things. In a future sense be ready at all times for the unexpected. Well-being means well protected.8

Indigenous economies are often described as gift economies, where resources and belongingsthat is, wealthare shared and given and received in return. The entire economic system is oriented to promote the interests of the community, not individual accumulation.

For example, potlatch ceremonies are held across Alaska to mark births, marriages, deaths, and important rites of passage. They are called ku.ex in Lingt, and have very specific protocols for economic redistribution.9 Potlatches formalize allegiances and loyalty through reciprocity. Those who have access to great abundance are expected to share; and if they encounter hard times, sharing is extended back to them. Sharing and redistributions help smooth out the ebb and flow of resource abundance and stave against not having enough, including starvation. Families save up for a very long time in preparation to host potlatches to this day. In the past, when chiefs would host a potlatch, they would give away everything they owned that they were able to give away. Generosity and responsibility are highly respected, and the most generous and thoughtful leaders were the most respected, creating extensive allyship among the community and across neighboring territories.

Lingt frameworks identify economic partners as other nations, which in the Lingt framework are the Plant Nation, the Animal Nation, the Fish Nation, and the Insect Nation. Lingt responsibilities and social expectations of behavior and roles are circular, overlapping, and follow specific protocols for caring for the community. Additionally, the Lingt headman, or Ka Tlein, is responsible for the health and well-being of everyone in the community, ensuring access to food, water, medicine, clothing, safety, spiritual health, and wellness. The headwoman, or Naa Tla, is responsible for the organization, care, and understanding of the needs of the house group, family group, clan group, and extended community. These are just a small glimpse of traditional economic and social roles.

Lingt clans care for and augment production within the territories for which they are responsible. They increase food abundance in specific land- and waterways, through very meaningful practicesin addition to layered protocols for harvesting plants, animals, and fish. Not taking the largest animals and fish is an example of how people care for the stability and ultimate survival of the population; tending wild roots and berry patches is an example of how people assist wild plants to flourish.

These expectations of care are also built into treaties or agreements between neighboring Indigenous groups. Invested energy and efforts put forth by the Lingt people into the environment increase production and achieve reciprocal benefit for the community and all economic partners.

These concepts include the exchange of spiritual energy, as well. Energetic expansion is achieved by purposefully giving to someone else. These living economies ensure that people can do well, support the community and the environment, and have a sense of purposeand they ensure well-being in perpetuity. These practices of stewardship are an economic exchange that reinvests in the land by giving back to it, and are symbiotically beneficial.

To achieve effective climate solutions, restoration of balance and deep justice must flow through all policy and transformation. Policy must remember forward and be ambitious in its mission to restore ecosystems, food systems, and practices of reciprocity. Toward this goal, the Alaska Climate Alliance, a statewide network of climate advocates and conservation organizations, has gathered throughout the past year to align across the broad spectrum of environmental advocacy, encouraging historically white-led and well-resourced organizations to implement decolonization processes and operate in accordance with just transition principles.10 In this model, conservation organizations are given opportunities to learn from and grow with Tribal governments and Indigenous-led organizations, as well as learn from other non-Native groups who are following Indigenous stewardship principles and adopting actively antiracist policies into their work. Collectively, this leads to better coordination, healthier communication, and more unified communities.

Similarly, through Native Movements Untangling Colonialism, Decolonizing Advocacy training, the organization provides an interactive audience with the opportunity to question the mores of traditional conservation and uncover the white supremacist roots of the conservation movement: the three Wswhite, Western, wilderness. The modern environmental movement placed great emphasis on their idea of the preservation of nature, of keeping an untouched wilderness safe from the destructive tendencies of humans, and of venerating certain places as examples of the sublime, where one could glimpse the face of God.11 As A-dae Romero-Briones notes, These coveted lands only became available when they were no longer occupied by the Indigenous people, who were brutally eradicated from their homelands. Many of the Indigenous stewardship practices have weakened because of inaccessible landscapes that have been preserved for future generations, writes Romero-Briones. Given this countrys historical and current policies and practices, one has to question whether Indigenous people are included in this idea of future generations.12

Many champions of wilderness conservation espoused racist thought and promoted eugenics as a necessary policy to accompany expanding land seizures, including John Muir,13 Gifford Pinchot,14 and Theodore Roosevelt.15 Modern land policy was developed through this settler colonizer frameworkmeaning, in conservation terms, a disruption of relationship among beings. These policies transition the land, rich with dynamic and interlocking relationships, into habitatremoving human relationship and denigrating Indigenous peoples as an unfortunate obstacle for nature conservation to overcome.

By acknowledging the ways in which colonialism and extractive capitalism have incurred climate chaos and deep social inequality, it becomes possible to enact real solutions that question these systems and break from them. False solutions maintain the status quo and will heal neither society nor the environment. Many net-zero carbon emission schemes do not lead to quantifiable emission reduction,16 and often reinscribe social inequalities, banking on the last reserves of Indigenous territory and natural spaces to pay for continuing industry emissions.17 Many of these proposed false solutions ask for collaboration with the perpetrators of harm. As Chris Peters (Pohlik-lah and Karuk), president of the Seventh Generation Fund, observes: It is a breach of the ethical foundation of Earth-based spiritual understanding to sell the air and to continue unabatedly polluting for personal and corporate profit.18 Only a values-based framework that changes behavior will lead to system change.

Indigenous cultures know that future prosperity requires investing in youth leadership. Native youth are not just the voices of the futurethey must be the leaders of today. Key to this is infusing traditional ecological knowledge, technologies, and lifeways with modern calls to action. Today, culture camps, annual events held by local communities and Tribes, are immersive experiences to teach and pass on traditional knowledge and subsistence practices (qaqamiigux). As Unangaan artist and youth leader Dustin Newman shared,

When it comes time for culture camps, we often forget how our traditions and culture are tied into the climate crisis. Our camps tend to focus on the importance of our qaqamiigux. We teach our youth how to pull the seine net or how to butcher the seal, but we dont tell them the reasons behind a low salmon return or why the seals are skinnier this year.19

The climate crisis is additionally a catalyzing opportunity to bring the voices of Indigenous youth from the lands into all levels of decision making.

In Alaska, on the front lines of the climate crisis, the environmental community is beginning to unpack its colonial roots and defer to Indigenous stewardship. The next phase of climate justice advocacy in Alaska must continue to invest in youth leadership. In Wilson Justins words, we are responsible for the next generation [and have a] sense of duty and responsibility to someone [weve] never met, and never seen, and never will.20 How we live today is guided by the needs of future generations. We pay back the lands and waters, not only in reparations for losses and damages but also in gratitude for the life that the lands have always gifted us.

In this time of great struggle, it often feels like we are lost at sea. Our canoes are strong but weathered, and we are struggling to paddle as one. Many of us are tired. The swells of waves are relentless and steadfast, and we can no longer see the horizon we move toward as we struggle to trace the path that has carried us here. This is when we remember our paddling songs, synchronize our strokes, and trust one another to carry us forward. When we cannot see the horizon, we are reminded to look to the stars. There in the sky, our ancestors navigate us home. We remember forward.

The authors acknowledge that we live and write from the unceded lands of the Indigenous peoples of Alaska. We further acknowledge that, in the spirit of adrienne maree brown, we come as people raised in, interacting with, and intentionally dismantling white supremacy. We strive to additionally acknowledge the thought genealogies, community participatory work, and elders guidance that contribute to this article and the work it represents. The coauthors are particularly grateful to our culture and language bearers, our Indigenous youth, and Elders, who continue to shine the light forward and remind us of our roots.

NOTES

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Relatives, Not Resources: Applying an Alaska Native Lens to Climate Sovereignty, Economic Justice, and Healing - Non Profit News - Nonprofit Quarterly

Achieving the Vision 2041

M ROKONUZZAMAN in the first of his three-part write up on Vision 2041 | Published: November 17, 2021 20:55:22

Upon reaching the low-middle-income country status, Bangladesh has set a vision for being a high-income country by 2041. To the development planners, how a country that has 165 million people on just 148,000 square kilometers become an advanced economy is a daunting challenge indeed. Despite having consistent growth over the last two decades, Bangladesh's per capita income has just reached over $2,500. To achieve the goal, per capita GDP should grow to above $12,500. So far, this growth result has been the outcome of labour-centric manufacturing and remittances earned from expatriates. Apparently, it's an impossible target for a natural resource-starved country. Furthermore, scaling up labour-based manufacturing for export and import substitution does not offer much legroom. Besides, at the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution, technology progression has been lowering the demand for labour in manufacturing outputs. Hence, scaling up the current labour and natural resource-based growth model does not offer a path to being a developed country. On the other hand, due to high amenability to automation, a knowledge-based economy does not offer much growth promise either. Such reality demands significant phase shifting in growth strategy.

STRATEGY FOR ATTAINING VISION 2041: To attain a seemingly impossible target for becoming an advanced economy, Bangladesh envisioned the strategy to ride over the technology, innovation, and information technology (IT) opportunities. This is about moving from a factor-driven stage to an innovation-based economy. In the perspective plan 2041, Bangladesh has set a target of changing production priorities from replication and imitation of simple products to innovation and manufacturing of complex products. The importance is on the driving process and product sophistication and increasing TFP (total factor productivity) contribution to economic growth-from exiting 0.3 per cent to reaching 4.5 per cent by 2041. In addition to producing economic value from labour and natural resources, vision 2041 demands the production of ideas and trading them as product and process features in the globally competitive market. It's the journey of graduating from idea-import-driven value creation out of labor and natural resources to idea-producer, consumer, and exporter.

The primary focus of Vision 2041 is to empower Bangladesh to add value out of ideas by leveraging ICT possibilities. For example, Bangladesh's ICT device-making industry now focuses on adding value out of labour by assembling imported components. The challenge is to roll out how Bangladesh can add value from ideas of redesign, re-innovation, and re-invention of ICT devices. Similarly, in ICT usages in different sectors, Vision 2041 would like to see migration from technology import to globally competitive innovation by adding value out of ideas so that local demand creates innovation and exporting capability. Such up-gradation of value addition from usages of imported technology to producing and trading ideas out of ICT possibilities in domestic and global markets is the key to increasing per capita income over US$ 12,000 by 2041.

In chapter 09 of the perspective plan, the vision has been set to attain competitive advantage from the innovation of both products and processes. It demands the upgrading of science, technology, and engineering education using imported technologies, and assembling technology products to transform the competence into technology invention, reinvention, and innovation for increasing economic value creation. The focus has been on (i) technology fusion and development, and (ii) product and process innovation for opening new economic areas.

RATIONALE IN FAVOUR OF IDEAS: The economic value creation depends on four significant inputs: i. natural resources, ii. labour, iii. knowledge, and iv. ideas. Per capita income due to revenue generation from natural resources depends on the stock of resources, unit price, and the number of citizens. Due to having a large population and relatively small amount of natural resources, per capita income growth from the exploitation of natural resources does not offer much room to Bangladesh. Yes, Bangladesh has a large labour pool. Out of labour exploitation, per capita income grows linearly. The slope of this linearity depends on the per-unit price of labour, and the peak is determined by the ratio between working people and the total population. Creating economic value out of knowledge also shows linear behaviour. Due to technology, the market value of natural resources is volatile, and the per-unit price of labour is showing a diminishing trend due to the advancement of robotics and automation.

On the other hand, knowledge-based service production is highly amenable to automation. In fact, roles of labour and knowledge in production have been diminishing due to technology. Hence, the correlation between the number of graduates and economic prosperity in less developed countries has been weakening.

Fortunately, the role of ideas in creating economic value has been increasing. Ideas are emerging in the form of new products, advancement of existing ones, and improvement of production processes. Besides, ideas are not conflicting in nature-showing nonlinearity. It does not depend on how many people are working for how many hours. Instead, it depends on how many units of products containing ideas are sold and how much value is captured from each idea. Hence, it has a tendency to show exponential growth in per capita income. For example, on average, Bangladesh produces roughly $5000 per person in ready-made garments production out of labour. India earns about $18,000 per person from knowledge trading in the form of IT services.

On the other hand, a single idea created by three people has developed more than half a trillion dollar worth semiconductor industry. Similarly, a single idea of Carl Benz has seeded the growth of the three trillion dollar automobile industry. In fact, the exploitation of this great idea out of a flow of ideas has made a significant contribution to Germany's prosperity. Due to the role of the idea, both South Korea and Taiwan have been enjoying steady income growth, reaching an advanced economic state, while Malaysia is caught in a middle-income trap. South Korea's per capita income was lower than that of Malaysia in the 1970s.

In addition to pursuing a few great ideas, there is an opportunity to produce millions of them and convert them into economic value. It's an opportunity for Bangladesh to engage a growing number of university graduates to create economic value out of ideas. To begin with, Bangladeshis should target redesigning all the products they have been producing now and processes to produce them with ideas of quality improvement and cost reduction. Upon making some headway, the focus should be on incremental innovation and reinvention of products that Bangladesh has been importing--for expanding economic footprint out of ideas.

M Rokonuzzaman, Ph.D is academic and researcher on technology, innovation, and policy.

[emailprotected]

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Producing & trading ideas out of technology possibilities - The Financial Express BD

When data centers began to evolve in the 1980s and 90s, environmentalism was not a common tech priority. Environmentalism meant going back to nature. Technology did not.

Networks grew more complex and important, requiring more servers, redundancies, backup batteries, and generators. In the absence of a cold semiconductorscientists have never figured out how to run a computer chip without generating heatdata center managers needed a way to keep their ever-growing facilities from overheating. The energy needed to run refrigeration units was expensive, Wes Swenson, CEO of Novva data centers, recalls. Water was more efficient and cheap.

Swenson, however, bucked the trend. Novva had data centers located in both Utah and Colorado, and as the years went on, Swenson noted that the West seemed to be in a perpetual state of drought. And as the water demands of other data centers grew ever more intense, Swenson intuited that growing his companys reliance on a single limited natural resource was not the best move.

When we build data centers, we will spend a billion dollars on a campus, and to spend a billion dollars on a campus that is reliant on one particular natural resource is very risky, Swenson says. Why take that risk in a desert environment?

Although his decision to cool his data centers using refrigeration rather than water initially cost him money, the decision now seems to be paying off. Amid the worst drought in Utahs recorded history, with the second-worst drought from 2018 still lingering in the rearview mirror, concerned customers are flocking to Swensons business at twice the pace he saw just months ago. Cities around the state have issued building permit moratoriums to stave off shortages of drinking water; Salt Lake City has floated an ordinance to cap the water use of businesses allowed to locate in city limits.

More than any other factor, water will determine how fast and how large Utahs economy can grow in the decades to come, according to Melissa Renolds, an attorney specializing in water rights for Salt Lake law firm Holland & Hart. In most locations on the Wasatch Front, businesses and cities have staked claims to more water than actually exists, Renolds says, putting cash-rich, data-thirsty tech companies on a collision course with climate change. Downstream, a circular problem has emerged: minerals extracted from the Great Salt Lake could hold the key to powering our digital future, but only if the lake continues to exist.

Compared to the overall size of Utahs economy, the 7,700 jobs and $1.3 billion in direct revenue the Great Salt Lake currently supports may seem relatively small. But on a global scale, resources found in some cases exclusively at the lake are critical to producing steel, aluminum, and multiple agricultural products, including seafood.

Yes, seafood.

Although generally considered a barren lake, microscopic brine shrimp harvested from the Great Salt Lake are fed to farmed fish and shrimp worldwide. Don Leonard, chair of the Great Salt Lake Brine Shrimp Cooperative, has estimated that over a third of the worlds brine shrimp eggs come from Utah.

According to Laura Vernon, Great Salt Lake coordinator for the Utah Department of Natural Resources, shoreline mining operations that harvest minerals from the lakes salty water are the sole US source of raw magnesium and account for 14 percent of global magnesium supplies. Other minerals extracted from the lake provide fertilizers critical to the production of fruits and nuts, and large quantities of lithium have been recently discovered in the lake as well.

This July, the Great Salt Lake hit its shallowest level in known history, based on records dating back to the arrival of Mormon pioneers in 1847. The lake level is so low, Vernon says, that the state is mulling revisions to its emergency lake management plan because the plan bottoms out at two feet below the lakes current level. A report released earlier this year estimates that demand for water generated by ongoing growth in the state could shrink the lake by an additional 10 feet.

As the lake grows increasingly shallow, accessing the resources it contains has grown more challengingand expensive. Mineral extraction on the lake continued apace this summer thanks to investments in new collection systems, according to Joe Havasi, director of natural resources for Compass Minerals. The brine shrimpers also pulled in a good-sized catch this year, but only after paying out $1.5 million to dredge a channel allowing their boats to get from the harbor to the deeper parts of the lake, which are getting further and further from shore.

Funding such dredge operations is a significant amount of money to ask, says Leonard, but due to competition with other brine shrimp providers in Russia and China, they cant recover the funds by increasing shrimp prices.

If the cost of accessing the lakes water continues to increase, Vernon says, it may well preclude the development of a desperately needed lithium industry in Utah. But while Leonard considers the loss of the lake a serious risk, he says hes also an optimistparticularly after seeing the way Utahns came together during the drought this past year.

As the full extent of the drought in the West became evident this spring, says Laura Briefer, director of the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, the implications of the weather reports were so alarming that she watched some of her long-time colleagues quit their jobs and opt for early retirement to escape the stress of what they saw coming.

But as the news broke of building moratoriums and water shortages elsewhere in the state, something remarkable began to happen. Years of calling on the public to conserve water finally sank in. Residents and institutions replaced green lawns with brown dotted with doing our part signs. Overall, Salt Lake City water use dropped 15 percent year over year.

Between July and August, Briefer says, Salt Lake City Public Utilities typically delivers 160 million gallons per day to thirsty homes and businesses. This year, she says, there were days during the summer when collective city water use dropped below 100 million gallons.

Though citizens are doing their part to conserve water, the introduction of water-guzzling companies have some concerned that civilian action is not enough. The problems came to light when Vobev, an independent can maker and filler, announced plans to open a state-of-the-art bottling facility in west Salt Lake City, prompting speculation that the city could draw similar water-heavy enterprises, particularly as the development of the Inland Port progresses.

As city officials took a closer look at those projections, Briefer says, a potential problem emerged. Vobevs planned water use of more than 2 million gallons per day would position the facility as one of the citys two largest water users, right next to the oil refineries.

And while the city was prepared for household growth in its long-term water planning, they did not include this dramatic increase in industrial water demand.

We do have an adequate supply for future growth, Briefer says, through at least 2060. But those supplies depend on an assumption of water use, and it does not assume we have a bunch of 2-million-gallon-per-day entities that are sited here. Having that high-intensity water use is not what we planned for.

The realization that too many water-intensive industries could rapidly draw down the citys water supplies established what Briefer describes as a new worst-case scenario. Now, theres a proposed ordinance that would cap the water use tied to future building permits at 300,000 gallons per day. Only pre-existing businesses would exceed the cap, roughly equivalent to the amount of water a single-family household uses in an entire year.

Theres nothing easy about this, Briefer says. The Wasatch Front, Salt Lake City, were experiencing a lot of growth right now, and its really important for us to recognize that how we grow, how we plan for our water supplies, has to be done very carefully.

Not only were these large industries like Vobev not necessarily planned for but finding water rights for said facilities is another concern. Water rights are very expensive, Renolds says. They add significant cost to any development, and theyre very, very pricey right now. Its difficult to even locate them, but if someone has a high priority water right and is willing to sell it, that can result in it going to the highest bidder.

High prices are leading some, like Swenson, to rethink their water usage as a whole. The Jordan Valley Water Conservancy Districtwhich has a Utah Water Savers program that can send water use experts to individual businesses and help look for new ways to cut water usealso saw a dramatic uptick in applications this year, according to Courtney Brown, conservation programs manager for the water district.

We have a popular saying in our conservation industry that when theres a drought, we feel like its drowning because there is so much interest, Brown says. Its huge for water conservation.

And its also been huge for Swensons data centers as tech companies across the west come to Novva in their search for options that will reduce their overall water consumption.

However, Swenson isnt just sitting back and reaping the benefits of taking a risk investing in waterless cooling systems in his data centers. Earlier this year, Novva itself applied to Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District for help reducing their water use even further and ended up reworking the landscaping on their newest campus, very nearly eliminating the need for outdoor water use.

And its pretty. I actually like it, Swenson says.

For Swenson, wise water use isnt just about maintaining Utahs ability to growalthough hes concerned about that too. But a big part of his motivation, he says, is ensuring Utah remains an attractive place to work and play.

Part of the reason I live and work here is the recreation, so I like to see the reservoirs full. Id rather conserve so we can enjoy those. We have a lot of clients who love to use our services in Utah because they love to tag on a ski trip, a national parks trip, Swenson says. It goes hand in hand with everything we dobecause our job in data centers is really preparing for the worst, and that includes climate change.

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We need to rethink water usage before one of our biggest resources dries up - Utah Business - Utah Business

The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set newsroom policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or onbangordailynews.com.

Lawrence Butler of Thomaston is a retired ambassador. He worked with NATO and U.S. commanders in Afghanistan.

This summer, Stonington had to truck in 200,000 gallons of waterdue to extended drought conditions. Which to me raised this question: What do the following have in common: mines; wells in Fairfield; salmon farms in Belfast, Bucksport, Gouldsboro, and Jonesboro; a Portland-area fish and lettuce hydroponic operation; a land-based eel-farm; and a Millinocket cloud computing center?

Water. Stonington ran out of water, but there seems to be plenty to go around elsewhere. This year has been feast and famine wells dried up and roads washed out.

Water has always been fundamental to Maines prosperity. In the 19thcentury, water-powered mills and sail cargo and fishing fleets drove its economy. Today, we are witnessing the effects of climate change as farmers in Arizona got cut offfrom Colorado River irrigation water, Tennessee suffered deadly flash flooding, Maine coastal roads got washed out, and Stonington had to spend $20,000to refill its standpipe.

Corporations are responding by seeking an increasingly scarce commodity clean water and Maine (still) has a lot of it. Foreign and American companies are working to establish salmon farms here. In Belfast, Norwegians plan to build a salmon growing facilityon land, relying on massive quantities of water. Treated waste water will flow into Penobscot Bay. Per a 2019 study, every ton of salmon produced in aquaculture creates about 92.6 to 145.5 pounds of nitrogen waste and 15.9 to 23.1 pounds of phosphorous waste excess nitrogen and phosphorous waste in the water are the leading cause of an algal bloom if they are in high concentrations.

These investments understandably are warmly welcomed by local governments anxious to reap the benefits of larger tax bases and jobs, even as locals fighta seemingly losing rear-guard action.

But, what happens if the salmon farms suck more ground water out of aquifers than nature replenishes? Or dump too much organic waste into our pristine waters? How are the local utilities pricing the billions of gallons of water the fish farms require? Has the state adequately modeled the impact the consumption is going to have on local supplies 10 years from now? Wells were already going dry this year in the Midcoast before the July rains came, and not just up in Stonington.

Around the Schoodic peninsula, salmon farming pens are proposed in Frenchman Bay, closing off a huge chunk of scenic saltwater for another Norwegian corporate interest. One wonders whether the full environmental impact of salmon waste has been evaluated, and why arent lobstermen raising as big a ruckus as they did over offshore windfarmsand plans to protect right whales?

Up in Millinocket, Maines governor and both senators showed upto celebrate a deal with a California company to establish a data centerthat requires flowing fresh water to cool and power the electronic equipment celebrating the prospect of new tax revenues and a few new jobs. This may actually be a great deal for all parties, as long as the water flows and doesnt get polluted.

Not that far away, a Canadian mining company proposed to start mining in the North Woods, telling its potential investorsnot to sweat indigenous peoples rightsor water pollution. It just withdrew its applicationdue to likely rejectionof its rezoning application. The company claimed that it has a new technology that would eliminate pollution from mining waste entering the Penobscot River system, so one should expect to see the application resurrected at some point.

Further south, there is a wild claim of billions of dollars of lithium,which can only be extracted by open-pit mining. The EPA just announced that it was shutting downthe $90 million cleanup of an old copper mine in Vermont.

Which brings me to PFAS, or forever chemical pollution. In Fairfield and elsewhere in Maine sludgefrom wastewater treatment plants that serviced the paper mills was sold as fertilizer to local farms. Said sludge contained chemicals associated withcancer and other health problems, which permeated the groundwater, which can render crops grownon the land and the water drawn from local wellsunfit for human consumption. Forever.

The final examples of proposed water-driven investments are home-grown. One Maine entrepreneur wants to expandhis aquaponic lettuce and tilapia fish operation,and another wants to grow eels,both on land. The first repurposes tilapia fish waste to fertilize lettuce and other greens grown hydroponically. The challenge might be on the amount of water the eventual operations will require and what that might mean for the local fresh water supply years from now.

The bottom line is asking whether Maines government recognizes the scale and impact of growing demand for this seemingly infinite resource, is cognizant of the impact climate change will have, and is making sure that all this water use is appropriately priced, regulated and protected for future Mainers. Todays tax revenues and jobs could be tomorrows superfund clean up and scarcity. History will judge.

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Water, water, everywhere, but what if Maine fails to adequately protect this resource? - Bangor Daily News

This post is authored by Kjellen Belcher, Senior Analyst for U.S. Climate at EDF.

Photo credit: US Bureau of Land Management.

This past summer, the Pacific Northwest endured record-breaking high temperatures, with Portland reaching 116 degrees F. Hundreds of Oregonians are still reeling from the wildfires of 2020 one of the most destructive seasons on record for Oregon. And a new study just revealed that Mt. Hood, an iconic Oregon landmark, will have low to no snowpack within the next 35 to 60 years, impacting Oregons water supply, winter sports season and other treasured natural resource industries.

Climate change is impacting every part of Oregon, and every action we take (or dont take) will either solidify a very grim climate future or stop the ever-accelerating impacts of climate change and the immeasurable human suffering that goes with it.

But Oregon regulators have the power to take immediate action to address the climate crisis.

Oregons Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has a critical opportunity to put Oregon on the right path by enacting an ambitious Climate Protection Program (CPP). The program is intended to be a pillar of the states strategy to meet the climate goals established by Governor Brown in 2020, who directed DEQ to cap and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from large stationary sources, transportation fuels, and all other fuels consistent with reducing emissions at least 45% below 1990 emissions levels by 2035 and at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

After scorched-earth political tactics by a minority of lawmakers blocked progress in the legislature, Gov. Brown demonstrated how to swiftly and fully mobilize state agencies to deliver the strong climate action that Oregonians overwhelmingly support, without delay. But do DEQs proposed rules for the CPP measure up?

DEQ is currently finalizing its proposed regulatory language for the program, which will determine how strong the CPP will actually be. But unfortunately, DEQs draft rules for the program fall far short of what is needed to protect Oregonians from the devastating impacts of climate change. As currently drafted, the program has three critical deficiencies:

But even more importantly, Oregons current climate targets are insufficient. The new U.S. Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)the U.S. commitment to the Paris Agreementcommits to reducing total net greenhouse gas emissions 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030. This level of climate action is based on the latest science from the IPCC, which shows that the world needs to cut global emissions roughly in half by 2030 and reach net-zero by midcentury in order to avert the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. To meet this urgent, all-hands-on-deck moment, DEQ must target a level of climate ambition that is consistent with both our national climate commitment and the best available science.

DEQs proposal falls even shorter when compared to our national goal. Our analysis shows that DEQs cap proposal would only result in a 43% reduction in economy-wide emissions from 2005 levels by 2030lagging behind our national goaland would not come close to achieving the level of needed to reach net-zero by 2050. However, reaching these targets is both necessary and feasible. EERs modeling included a Deep Decarbonization scenario that illustrates a feasible pathway for Oregon to slash pollution at a pace consistent with the best available science and with our national climate commitment. Additional analysis by EDF found that if DEQ increased the programs ambition and set the CPPs caps at levels that will cut covered emissions in half by 2030, economy-wide emission reductions would catch up to the modeled Deep Decarbonization pathways and the U.S. goal. By updating the cap to reduce emissions 50% by 2030, DEQ could maintain Oregons legacy of climate leadership and cut climate pollution at a pace that matches the ambition of the U.S. NDC.

Despite the stresses of still living through a pandemic and enduring the blow of the Delta Variant (which hit Oregon communities hard and Oregon hospitals even harder) Oregonians have made it a priority to let DEQ know they want a strong statewide Climate Protection Program, and that DEQs proposed program doesnt measure up. Over 5,000 public comments were submitted calling on DEQ to strengthen their proposal consistent with the recommendations above, along with dozens of letters to the editor in community papers across the state. Citizens from communities large and small, urban and rural, progressive and conservative took the time to give public testimony at DEQ meetings. Oregonians sent DEQ a strong message: We have no time to waste. This program must be strengthened to deliver real results.

DEQ must deliver the strong, ambitious CPP that Oregonians are demanding by:

As DEQ makes final updates to the proposed Climate Protection Program, Oregonians will be asking: Do they have the will to act with the urgency our state needs? Oregonians are counting on DEQ to do the right thing and strengthen the program rules to deliver an ambitious, binding, equitable Climate Protection Program.

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Oregon is finalizing a key pillar of its climate strategy. Will DEQ deliver the climate ambition that Oregonians are demanding? - Environmental...

At the just-concluded Conference Of Parties (COP 26), 25 countries and public finance institutions announced their commitment to end finance for overseas fossil fuel energy projects by 2022. This is to ensure global transitioning to cleaner sources of energy, which is the only way to keep the global temperature from rising beyond 1.5 degrees pre-industrial level.

The statement was co-released by parties, including the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO), The Gambia, Italy, Mali, Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Moldova, Portugal, Slovenia, South Sudan, Switzerland, and Zambia are also signatories to the commitment.

The commitment also has the support of five public banks, including the East African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank with a plan to mobilise $17.8 billion a year for the clean energy transition to keep 1.5C alive. This sounds good for the fight against climate change, but it comes at a huge cost for developing nations. The African continent has an abundance of fossil fuels and natural gas that are a source of revenue for many of its countries.

Crude oil and natural gas are the lifeblood of Nigerias economy. Oil discovery in the 70s transformed the country from being an agrarian economy to an oil-dependent one. Presently the country is Africaslargest oil producerand the eleventh-largest oil-producing country in the world. Because of her dependence on oil revenue, fluctuations in oil prices have a significant impact on the state of her economy. Low oil prices were a major contributing factor to the 2016 recession. Also, the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia in the early days of the pandemic negatively affected the country.

Oil accounts for about60 per centof government revenue and over 90 per cent of foreign exchange earnings. Nigerias budgets are based on the expectation of high oil revenue, but the Nigerian government never meets itsrevenue targets. And if the government continues to fall short of its revenue target, budget spending will shrink.

With recent global developments towards ending fossil fuel by 2022, it is a safe bet that the path towards a cleaner source of energy will attract more players, and oil will gradually lose market value. This would be detrimental for a country like Nigeria trying to recover economically post-pandemic. Nigeria recently scaled through a recession in the fourth quarter of 2020, and 33.3 per cent of its citizens are unemployed. Presently, the economy is swimming in a pool of inflation, with commodity prices skyrocketing, and things could get worse.

Controversies around the transition

Nigeria has pledged to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2060, but President Mohammadu Buhari believes that the transition to cleaner renewable energy should not be hasty. He explained that the energy solutions proposed by those most eager to address the climate crisis are a source of instability, particularly in Africa. He argues that although wind and solar energy are the most popular modern technologies, they may not serve 1.3 billion Africans efficiently because they rely on backup generators or batteries for days when there is no wind or sun for the panels.

Furthermore, the global rush for electric vehicles (EV) threatens to replace the previous centurys race for fossil fuels with a new global race for lithium for batteries. Africa, which has a large deposit of this resource, will be vulnerable to geopolitical instability. This makes the economic migrations the U.N. warned of more likely. We must think carefully about whether our dash to terminate the use of fossil fuels so swiftly is as wise as it sounds,he said.

Vice President Osibanjo shares similar sentiments. Henotedthat the aggressive decision of wealthy economies to defund fossil fuel projects is unfair considering how much profits they have made from the sector before now. He laments that policies binding these decisions often do not distinguish between different kinds of fuels, nor consider the vital role fossil fuels play in powering the growth of developing economies, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

He argued that for countries rich in natural resources but still energy poor, such as Nigeria, the transition should not come at the expense of affordable and reliable energy for people, cities, and industry. Rather, it must be inclusive, equitable, and justwhich means preserving the right to sustainable development and poverty eradication, as enshrined in global treaties such as the 2015 Paris climate accord. Curbing natural gas investments in Africa will do little to limit carbon emissions globally but much to hurt the continents economic prospect.

The economic diversification buzz

Over the years, different administrations have made efforts to diversify Nigerias economy from being oil-dependent. It is the cornerstone on which the present administration is built. But the story remains the same; oil remains the primary driver of the economy.

Change is constant. A decade ago, humans lived and interacted in a very different way than they do now. We are already seeing the effects of a changing world, with two major factors influencing the course of change technology and climate change. Nigeria must be intentional about economic diversification if it hopes to maintain its place in the global economy and meet the needs of its burgeoning population. Initiatives geared towards diversification must not only be on paper but must also be made a reality. Although the non-oil sector has been a significant contributor to the countrys GDP, more should be done.

When an average Nigerian hears the phrase economic diversification, the first thing that comes to mind is a shift to agriculture. But what is often overlooked is that farming has progressed beyond the traditional hoe and cutlass method. As a result of climate change and technological advancement, so much has changed in the sector. Nigeria must pay attention to these influences if it is to benefit from the sector.

The agricultural sector is not the only sector with a promising future in the country. As recent events have demonstrated, the information and communication sector has enormous potential. Information and communication are driving growth in the non-oil sector. More could be done in this sector if the teeming young population is given the proper resources and environment.

Although the transition to cleaner energy sources appears complicated at this early stage, it is inevitable. And there is no better time than now for the country to embrace this route. And there is no better time for the country to take this path than right now. Nigeriais expectedto overtake the United States of America as the third most populous country globally by 2050. As the population grows, so does the demand.

Written by Adekunle Agbetiloye

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COP 26: The implications of ending global fossil fuel projects on the Nigerian economy - Ventures Africa

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 19 November 2021 - RGE group of resources-based companies has released its 2021 progress report on its commitment to invest USD200 million in next-generation textile fibre innovation and technology over a ten-year period which started in 2019.

The annual report provides an update on the activities undertaken by RGE's business groups (Sateri, APR, APRIL, Bracell) involved in the fashion value chain to advance its ambition towards closed-loop, circular and climate-positive cellulosic fibre.

Bey Soo Khiang, Vice Chairman, RGE said, "Our achievements this year underscore our commitment to continuous improvement in clean production and resource utilisation efficiency. We will continue to pursue manufacturing excellence and invest in best-in-class technologies for all our facilities as part of our commitment towards closed-loop and cleaner production."

In 2021, Sateri achieved full compliance with the emission limits set out in the European Union Best Available Techniques Reference Document (EU-BAT BREF) for all of its five viscose mills in China, two years ahead of schedule. Bracell completed construction of the world's largest and greenest new generation pulp mill in So Paulo which uses cutting-edge technology for fossil fuel-free generation.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to restrict travel and collaboration, RGE persisted in building upon existing partnerships, while entering into new agreements. Sateri strengthened its strategic collaboration with Infinited Fiber Company, participating in the company's EUR30 million funding round, which attracted new and existing investors such as H&M Group, Adidas, BESTSELLER and Zalando.

New partnerships formed by RGE included a five-year textile recycling research collaboration with Nanyang Technological University Singapore, and a three-year strategic partnership with the Textile and Fashion Federation Singapore which seeks, among others goals, to advance research and innovation in circular economy approaches to fashion waste in Asia.

RGE's in-house R&D team has made good progress in advancing its textile-to-textile project, focusing on producing quality viscose using recycled cotton textiles as feedstock. To support plans to build a textile recycling facility in Indonesia, and as part of commercial feasibility analysis, studies examining the availability of textile waste and textile recycling landscapes in China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were completed.

Sateri remains on track in developing a product with 50 per cent recycled content by 2023, and to reach 100 per cent by 2030. It also aims for 20 per cent of its feedstock to contain alternative or recycled materials by 2025. In this similar vein, APR will source 20 per cent of its feedstock from alternative or recycled materials by 2030.

RGE group of resources-based companies founded by Sukanto Tanoto in 1973 is the world's largest viscose producer, through its business groups Sateri and APR, with strong presence in Asia where textile demand growth intersects with the textile production hub, giving the company a unique opportunity to lead change all across the industry.

Download RGE 2021 Next-Generation Textile Fibre Innovation & Technology Progress Report.

RGE Pte Ltd manages a group of resource-based manufacturing companies with global operations. Our work ranges from the upstream, comprising sustainable resource development and harvesting, to downstream, where our companies create diverse value-added products for the global market. Our commitment to sustainable development underpins our operations, as we strive towards what is good for the community, good for the country, good for climate, good for customer, and good for company.

RGE was founded in 1973. The assets held by RGE companies today exceed US$20 billion. With more than 60,000 employees, we have operations in Indonesia, China, Brazil, Spain and Canada and continue to expand to engage newer markets and communities.

http://www.rgei.com

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RGE Provides Second Annual Update on USD200 Million Commitment in Next-Generation Textile Fibre Innovation and Technology - Taiwan News

Responding to UKWIR's call to deliver collaborative research to answer one of the 12 Big Questions, namely how to maximize recovery of useful resources and achieve zero waste by 2050, Jacobs worked with Brunel University Londonand Allied Waters, to provide a vision and path forward for the water sector's circular economy journey.

What is circular economy?

A circular economy describes an economy that is restorative and regenerative by design (The British Standards Institution, 2017). It eliminates waste and pollution, keeps products and materials in use and regenerates nature (Ellen Macarthur Foundation, 2021).

A circular economy is a lower-carbon economy that preserves, restores and enhances the ecosystem services and biodiversity upon which all life depends. The principles of circular economy are foundational to delivering the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production, and key to the delivery of other United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Alternative economic models such as 'Doughnut economics'from economist Kate Raworth and the 'Wellbeing economy'actively progressed by governments and cities also incorporate circular economy concepts.

The natural and urban water cycles are inherently circular: we take water from the ground and from rivers, we make drinking water, we use that water and dispose of it through wastewater treatment back to the natural water cycle. However, a circular economy water industry is more than this and is underpinned by renewable energy, provides stewardship of urban and natural water cycles, and offers benefits for citizens across all six capitals.

A vision for a water circular economy

There are many benefits for water companies to transition to a circular economy approach, including for customers, wider society, climate action, environment and generally to become more resilient, sustainable businesses. Companies have started this journey for a transition to circular economy, and approaches in the water sector have been implemented successfully in the U.K. and more widely in the world.

However, much greater pace and transformational change are required. Building on best practice and informed by current guidance, such as the British Standards and emerging ISO standards on circularity, Jacobs has produced a report, providinga vision for a circular economy water sector.

The report, provided by UKWIR herefree of charge, aims to promote discussion and support for the water sector's transition. It provides a summary of existing circular economy principles already being adopted by the water sector, including a focus on water efficiency, generating biogas, recycling nutrients and carbon to land, as well as using catchment- and nature-based solutions and bioresource recovery trials for materials and energy. It includes an analysis of the blockers and enablers of a transition to circular economy, with insight into political, economic, social, technical, legal and environmental drivers needed to make water businesses more resilient, prosperous and sustainable. Detailed analysis of approaches to developing circularity metrics, aligned with ongoing work developing the ISO standard, was provided by our project partner Brunel University London. The report provided a vision for a circular economy water sector - illustrated below.

Sustainable economic resource recovery

Jacobs was also successful in winning another UKWIR circular economy project, focusing on near-term resource recovery in the water cycle in the U.K. and Ireland.

Numerous materials, energy and nutrients can be recovered from the urban water cycle - nitrogen, phosphorus, water for reuse, organic carbon for return to soils, green hydrogen, even precious metals! Jacobs reviewed over forty resources recoverable from waste streams produced during the treatment of drinking water and recycling of wastewater - drawing on global practice and technology readiness level to assess most viable resource recovery opportunities.

The report provided initial screening then a multi-criteria assessment of shortlisted resources, taking a six capitals approach, to consider 'most sustainable economic' resources for focus by water companies in the near term.

The report, also provided by UKWIR free of charge, highlights and draws on progressive work on circular economy, particularly in the Netherlands through our project partner, Allied Waters, shortlisting current opportunities. These include the enhancement of existing recovered resources and resource conservation, such as water demand management; recycling nutrients and soil carbon in biosolids; and energy recovery through biogas and biomethane in the U.K. and Irish water sectors. The project also highlights bioresources not yet recovered widely in the U.K. and Ireland, however recovered elsewhere, including drinking water sludges, fit-for-purpose water, storm water and grit.

As part of Jacobs' work, a multi-criteria analysis was undertaken, adopting the approach in Jacobs' in-house MODA multi-objective decision analysis tool and - in a key development of historic studies - this included semi-quantitative six capitals scoring criteria, a business-as-usual weighting, and three speculative weightings with different focuses on carbon, water quality and resource recovery.

The top-ranking resources providing maximum benefit across all criteria have been identified as being: household water efficiency, electricity and heat from combined heat and power (CHP), heat pumps, biogas from advanced digestion, biogas from co-digestion and continued biosolids recycling to land.

In conclusion

A circular economy water industry will look different to the current water industry. The U.K. and Irish water sector can build on key elements of circular economy which are implemented every day: regenerating catchments, returning carbon and nutrients to soil systems, and recovering value from used water.

Research on innovation, from addressing barriers to resource recovery, and drawing on the learnings from others, will allow the greatest progress. In the reports, Jacobs provided near- and longer-term research priorities, including priority work on demand management, as well as catchment-, nature- and place-based solutions required to transform our cities to thriving, low-carbon communities.

Wider value assessment frameworks across all six capitals and aligned carbon standards are critical to the implementation of circular economy, which must be supported by regulatory transformation and the adoption of relevant circularity metrics and performance commitments.

There are significant opportunities to work across sectors, across all water users- including industry and agriculture, and to align with cities which are embracing circular economy though participatory approaches. Increasing cross-company, -sector and -discipline partnerships will deliver the transition to circular economy and greatest value for citizens.

"We were delighted to be able to bring experience from over 25 years of circular products from the water cycle and our more recent work on a 2050 Circularity Strategy for the Netherlands water sector for this project," said Allied Waters Director Jos Boere. "We have no doubt that with collaborative approaches recognizing actual risk and reward, sustainable, economic business models founded upon circular products from the urban water cycle are possible".

"Circularity in the water sector and across sectors is critical to progress towards the sustainable future we require," said Brunel University London Professor Evina Katsou. "Our team is currently developing the most progressive ISO standards yet on circular economy metrics. Developing indicators aligned to circular economy principles, which can be operationalized by water utilities and companies, is critical to measuring and implementing this. We have greatly enjoyed delivering this project with such a collaborative team."

"The reports highlight priority areas for collaborative research and trials on resource efficiency and resource recovery within the water cycle, and provide themes for work in PR24 (Price Review 2024) and beyond," said Jacobs People and Places Solutions Europe, Head of Process Delivery, Water - U.K. and Ireland, Amanda Lake. "Transitioning to a circular economy allows us to unlock the value of bioresources in the urban water cycle - from next generation water efficiency, to soil carbon and fertilizers of the future, to community heat and hydrogen. Critically, it requires us to apply wider benefits assessment frameworks and life cycle analysis, looking beyond infinite resource consumption and economic growth to more holistic solutions that deliver wider benefits. Best of all, transitioning to a circular economy means a climate-safe, lower-carbon and better future for current and future end users."

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Jacobs Engineering : Delivers Collaborative Research with UK Water Industry Research Providing a Vision and Pathway for a Circular Economy in Water -...