And geopolitical tensions not to mention the small matter of a looming election join me Steve Clemons in conversation with leading voices on the bottom line your weekly take on u. S. Politics and society on aljazeera. Im Adrian Finnegan this is counting the cost on aljazeera a look at the world of business and economics this week the pandemic decimates millions of jobs and pushes many into extreme poverty could have Green Recovery be the solution to saving the Global Economy. Flag of convenience chinese ships and crews but flying the senegalese flag local fishermen say the waters off the coast of being overfished. Slaughterhouses are hot spots for coated 19 activist investors say that Meat Processing plants could be the cause of the next pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact on the Global Economy its pushed back global efforts to reduce poverty improve livelihoods and health care now understandably nations of poured billions into shoring up Health Services but the recovery now that lockdowns are being lifted needs to take into consideration global emergency Climate Change with temperatures hitting 100 degrees fahrenheit in siberia and the Arctic Circle the challenge couldnt be more dire lets put this into perspective because we can tackle poverty job creation and Climate Change at the same time to limit rising temperatures to below 1. 5 degrees celsius 2. 4 true. Dollars a year needs to be spent on Energy Systems around the world until 2035 thats around 2 and a half percent of the worlds economy the u. N. Says the money is there because the International Monetary fund says that governments of spent 10 trillion dollars in responding to the pandemic but more is needed despite bats its estimated that up to 100000000. 00 people have been pushed into extreme poverty the i. M. F. Says that further spending should focus on minimizing job losses and preventing a rise in inequality many nations are turning their attention to the recovery the European Union as citizens had 750000000000 euros for its Recovery Fund of which 25 percent is to be used for Climate Action we have 2 stories for you on poverty and jobs in a Green Economy at a moment aljazeera is Nicholas Gage reports on how geo political tensions are putting pressure on the astray and government to invest in Renewable Energy as it recovers from the pandemic but 1st a story thats familiar in advanced and poorer nations alike up to 12000000. 00 mexicans are estimated to dropped out of the workforce jews of the pandemic many are in danger of falling into extreme poverty aljazeera as john holdren reports now from mexico city. I dont want it to give voters are exhausted after an all day search for food. If you want to see how cove its affecting the poorest in mexico they invite you to the 2 rooms this family of a share theres a dozen personas is unless we start at 10 am and come home at midnight just looking for food where we can get milk nappies enough for all of us before the pandemic nicholas had a job as a Security Guard and once he sold sweets in a market between them they could feed the family were well thats all gone once he told us when we 1st met her at a soup kitchen that embezzling i beat everyone since the start of the pandemic from much we havent had work and my 2 little ones my mom and my baby depend on me so i have to deal with it and. This donated food is the only reason theyre not starving. And all along the countrys Development Agency says the pandemic could tip more than 10000000. 00 into extreme poverty and its already happening we went to 16 soup kitchens across the capital all of them told us that lines of grown men he said theyre serving 3 or 4 times more meals than before what we found coming to the soup kitchens is that theres a lot of people here from the Informal Sector Street Vendors rubbish collectors market workers people that are already for and this is just tip them over the edge. Even as the need has increased the number of soup kitchens and cells has phoolan those turning out to feed people like the benito from racists. And then more because of the pandemic similar kitchens close down and so people said to us please dont close to if you do when are we going to go. Its a salient question politics but told us that the federal government say programs dont really work for those in the Informal Sector like nancy wilson like i. D. S. Income proved that. Theyve lost their jobs shes grateful for what she does get from charitable soup kitchens if she cleans toilets you want to try and pay a little but if you dont. By the end of the day the familys eating a bottle of one tomorrow theyll join the queues again. John homan how does it make scarcity. Inside this workshop in the city of Large Industrial gear boxes are being made and repaired most of for the Mining Sector but recently the business has turned to renewables also fixing Wind Turbines it now makes up 10 percent of the companys repair work and thats expected to double in the next 4 years for us we see renewables an important part of her we know its growing and we want to be there to support it. Colin still making have defined will go on for more than a century but the focus is quickly shifting to cleaner technologies including the potential of Building Components for wind and solar and making cleanest. But astrology doesnt have a National Climate or Energy Policy and union leader. Says thats slowing investment what we have in this country is a policy vacuum and its letting down our environment as much as its letting down our coal miners while the use of Renewable Energy is rising as surely remains one of the worlds biggest exporters of thermal coal and mines a being expanded the coal industry employs about 3000 people here locally and thousands across this trailer some experts believe that using renewable hard. Grain steel is the most competitive option in the future to replace them both jobs in call as demand for carbon products. That still some years away but there is huge debate about whether a strategy is post coronavirus economic recovery should be powered by Clean Technologies that would need Government Support what its telling is that complier all a meaningful role in providing altar employment but i only within a water it is for develop a plan to diversify our situations in a variety of Different Industries 19 has cuts demand for coal forcing down prices there are also reports. That some chinese power plants have been told to stop importing coal has tried tensions. With a large scale switch to renewables now inevitable pressure is growing for the creation of an Energy Policy to invest in projects that can protect. And the environment. In the. Well thats 2 case studies of whats happening on the ground right now how we deal with that is a challenge that nations are trying to get to grips with and many are exploring Green Financing as a means to tackle poverty and unemployment but money isnt too much of an issue for rich nations but what about some of the poorer parts of the world delighted to be joined on account of the cost by sound the. Executive director of the United Nations Global Compact the Worlds Largest sustainability focused organization sunday you work with what something around 10000 companies around the world many of them in various states of Financial Health of the moment some are using government bailouts to support jobs but are very in a position given all of that to push ahead with the United Nations Sustainable Development goals which range from Poverty Reduction to Climate Change thank you and thank you for inviting me to talk about this really important topic you are right i think the the covert era has has pushed many economists into the state where they do need to rely on government bailouts and this is happening both in the developed as well as the developing world now you know actually just 2 days ago i did a sort of towards a tablet with all our our Members Around the local networks youre right over 10000 companies participate in the un Global Compact and they are various stages of you know of need in terms of economic support i think what is very important is that we do need to really start stimulating economies to be able to allow businesses to build back and build back better of concern really i think is perhaps more the medium of the small enterprise sector has because statistics have shown that globally most of these companies have not been able to to survive through the coppa 10 demick resulting in job losses and obviously huge income losses as well and so its a fine balance between to fitting innovating around the businesses that use taps already did paps you know working along with other companies to grow but also being open to be able to receive a. Nomic stimulus packages in which have always in short shapes that they do come from from government but how long are governments going to be expected to dip into the pockets and big bailouts loans grants like this thats pretty easy for developed nations to keep doing good but what about developing nations other thing calls from ethiopias Prime Minister for 100000000000. 00 in economic stimulus from the g 20 or the g 20 has offered a debt holiday i mean thats thats not going to get them very far is it no youre right i mean i think you know this Economic Recovery Program that we need to go through is going to be multifaceted i think if you look at the other end of the continuum shift away from just the government you know i think banks and finances and Credit Institutions also need to look at what sort of you know either. You know facilities or more terms they can get especially to Small Businesses who often really are not part of the largely banked sector or those who can easily access credit and credit financing you know i think supplies need to look at what the what they can do in terms of allowing some sort of flexibility supply chains also need to be open and flexible so i think you know i agreed there is huge amounts of money that governments probably need to set aside if theyre looking at stimulating economies as a whole but i think this this consideration has to trickle down advanced levels of the economy its really what were talking about building Inclusive Business you know right from the ground up and i think you know a match between private sector financing Public Sector financing and some innovation to really look at what trucks and serves as a truly read it needed right now to drive economies forward i think in all of our countries weve seen a massive resurgence of ecommerce and the opportunities that ecommerce and mobile payments and technology has brought to drive economies forward i think its also an opportunity for businesses to stop innovate think around what they can. And also look at the Business Opportunities that you know for example the Sustainable Development goals will afford to them you know you could get weve seen a lot of businesses shift production lines and go into perhaps working on Health Products weve seen lot of businesses shifting to look at more innovations around agriculture and education so i think you know it will take an amount of financing but also there is the opportunity to recreate what business looks like for the future is there a need for a Marshall Fund for a Green Recovery globally you know one of the things you know often when we look at cobie we look at the things that havent gone so well and where theres been destruction perhaps decimation but as we all know i think climates and the that the reduced pressure on Economic Activity has actually provided some big wins for climate and i do think it is time to look at financing that supports proper green growth top inclusive growth green jobs its a great opportunity to refocus on what we at the Global Compact as well as within the u. N. Up pushing which is really a tug at 1. 5 degrees maximum level of temperature growth you know to really minimize what could be the catastrophic impacts of Climate Change if we can grow back in a way that really supports mitigation of Climate Change i think will be a fantastic way to rebuild the economy in the post called it era the worlds already way behind me saying its 2030. Development goals. Are we going to miss that target i was there no way we can catch up again so 2nd general good test did articulate the clear call to action for the decade of action you know solid action to dry for the s d gs for the next 10 years and i agree code has created some setbacks but on the other hand its also created a few opportunities for us to refocus on the Sustainable Development goals as the way forward i think will take concerted action 1st of all you know from governments to it he commits to driving the s. T. G. s forward and providing an enabling environment. And so both Civil Society as well as business to really operate in a way that maximizes the potential and opportunities of the s. D. Cheese businesses also need to relook at how incorporating the s. T. G. s into their Business Strategies and not their philanthropic strategies but into their core Business Strategies provides opportunities and then of course in the small and medium sector this lots of opportunist ts to innovate and drive products and services and you know this is really what is at the heart of the work of the un Global Compact we work with companies around the world to help them integrate the Sustainable Development goals into that Business Strategies and drive business benefit as well as societal and Development Outcomes sun its been really good to talk to your own country the cost many thanks indeed for being with us thank you thank you very much. China has agreed to defer debt prepayments from cash strapped african nations like senegal that have struggled during the pandemic a syllable is more than a 1000000000. 00 in debt to beijing and has awarded deep sea fishing licenses to the Chinese Government that strong criticism from local fisherman and environmentalists who say that the waters are already over fished out a serious Nicholas Hawk reports from dhaka. Theyre back tired and hungry after weeks at sea high loading their meager catch in west africas biggest artists and all fishing port deep in the ocean they say are unmarked vessels carrying tons of fish describes it as a stolen treasure a catch she can only dream of. But they think. They will but if you dont like the the ocean isnt like it used to be i mean there arent as many fish and there are too many boats and synagogues waters depleting fish stocks. The cynically Fishing Union accuses the government of favoring chinese vessels instead of protecting local fishermen with the help of senegalese authorities chinese vessels have been allowed to change their flag to the senate in order to fish the countrys territorial waters soon amars a vessel that sailed all the way from china to the western coast of africa. Where we export to china and to the. Company but chinese run so we can ship in senegal has no problem. China relies on senegalese fish to feed its population of 1400000000 people indebted in kastrup senegal need chinese money the most to you have no agreement with the Chinese Government there are some chinese Fishing Vessels but why arent you asking me questions about the european vessels why stigmatise the chinese they have their interest and we have ours and they are an important partner to senegal. Those billions of dollars to china with the economy stalling because of the current Virus Outbreak people are going hungry president has been calling for african debt to be canceled in order to deal with what the u. N. Describes as a looming food crisis china agreed to delay debt repayments most of the vision vessels in the port of the car are chinese in this crew is getting ready to sail out at sea out of sight in cynically territorial waters are deep sea trawlers fishing illegally and destroying the environment. Greenpeace describes these chinese Fishing Vessels as floating factories they are no match to face boat scientists predict that within a decade Ocean Ecosystems will collapse because of rising temperatures and overfishing despite this threat it seems for now the chinese are here to stay Nicholas Hawk aljazeera the car. More than 29000 American Meat workers support infected with covert 19 and 238 have died according to the unions the united food and commercial Workers International union has called on the president to do more to protect workers cold damp and overcrowded slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants are the perfect breeding grounds for the virus this isnt just a problem for the United States Meat Processing plants in europe have been forced to close prompting localized lockdown. Ns and china has banned the import of pork from the netherlands now a 20 trillion dollar network of Investment Funds is warning that the Meat Industry is at serious risk of creating and spreading a future pandemic fare is also challenging the Meat Industry to reduce the use of antibiotics to prevent antibiotic resistant superbugs causing the next pandemic last month i caught up with the director of fair maria latini i began by asking as someone whos been fighting and challenging meat producers to change their working practices for some time is the message finally getting through well and id actually like to say that the code is knowing the person died of disease that it has been upon its right i mean several years ago maybe you or your family had signed flu or bird flu or if i didnt know my kids and so i mean weve been talking to the Meat Companies now for years right so bird flu slides the number of virus ebola and i now with nick what happened in the coded virus has really created a perfect storm so theres no way these companies that are now so want to meet processes need to do in order to avoid the spread of disease well i think Meat Processing is know what they need to frankly and you know now that theyve had over 20000 alyssas invest i think they need to start putting that into practice right and bester 7 gave you. Very much on this issue over the past 3 months and so protocols need to be right we need good p. P. Of work and we need to try and institute some social distancing i mean if you think about a slaughter a slaughter line right now you know you have worked side by side elbow to elbow working alliance lottery the animals right so those who are mentally they the proper people eat cats and so its the only plastic separations and frankly i think they need. Daily testing assessment in surveillance and the opportunity to to visit medical staff and the opportunity to also stay at home and think yes if they feel ill or sick or unsure about coming to work all of that is going to cost money of course which is going to impact the the end price of the product whos going to pay for that us the consumer i suppose i mean i think what ive been saying for a while and l. Is it you know if something seems too good to be true maybe it is too good to be true and you know when you think about a big mat cost 0. 99 i think we need to start reflecting on if that should be the fair price so i think the entire industry is going to have to absorb some of this cost and you know consumers should be ready to absorb it you know i dont think any consumer now particularly after the understanding of these essential workers on the front line will be willing to pay a few extra cents for their big mat in order to not have the lives of workers workers families in communities being at risk just to have their big mac or their chicken and how then to investors and groups like yours challenge the giants of the Food Industry like buy tyson foods in the u. S. Where the family owns all the class b. Shares meaning that even if all the other shareholders voted against the family theyd still with yeah i think you know. This time for these companies to stand up and be leaders to be leaders and you know setting out what change and resilience looks like so you know of john tyson the chairman of tyson foods etc full page ad in the Washington Post in the New York Times saying the food system is breaking thats a pretty big statement and i think wed all want to say ok john your company has them in your family has been in a city street for 70 or 80 years how do you suggest that we change protocols and that we look at this industry and set out a path to resilience for food safety and to carry so investors have been given a number of issues that weve been speaking about it and i mean report whether it be good for station safety working conditions over use of antibiotics bio Security Issues in general and i dont think any of those come to surprise to the companies that were talking to so now i think its just time for Industry Companies and investors to Work Together to set out a path for how we want to see the industry changed or its been really great to talk to you in counting the cost many thanks indeed for being with us thanks for having about what you do if inflation source more than 700 percent will some people would obviously want to protect their money by investing in the stock market thats what happened in zimbabwe but the government has halted trading how does here is how matushka reports. Zimbabwe Stock Exchange is close to business until further notice staff are on the premises but no trading is allowed the sudden move has less doc brokers and economists juggling to explain to investors what exactly is going on the. Traveler broke through the country good faith and i was told of a trend that if i wanted. To take the money out of the country are already. Being tipped and their issue nothing but im sure. Government Officials Say the suspect more money was being used to buy shares and in that money was moved out of the country sabotaging the economy they say they want to stabilize the local currency which is just to be devalued since its reintroduction last year after a decade of dollar a zation so what you saw was a. Stand. On firm and suddenly. There are some you know suspicion of. Financial movements. President who succeeded long term ruler Robert Mugabe in 2017 after a military coup is blaming the private sector opposition groups and some western countries as an economic crisis zimbabwe has struggled to stabilize its global currency since reintroducing it. Theres a barbie doll it keeps devaluing inflation is the 800 percent the highest rate in a decade thats why investors with cash preferred to avoid their money losing value. Economists say suspending most money transactions in a country with a serious shortage of bank notes is problematic people can still pay utility bills and goods but the number of transactions per day are limited. As shortages of food fuel and cash persist government workers are threatening to strike if theyre not paid in american dollars they say theres a barbie doll is devaluing too fast and more and more people and businesses dont want to use it. And thats our show for this week if youd like to comment on anything that youve seen you can tweet me im at a finnigan on twitter please use to hash tag a. J. C. To see what you can do or you could drop us a line counting the cost of that is our email address as always this plenty more few online at aljazeera dot com slash c. T. C. That takes you straight to our page and there youll find individual Sports League evident time episodes for you to catch up. But thats it for this edition of counting the cost im Adrian Finighan from the whole team here in doha thanks for being with us the news on aljazeera is next. Infamous dictator may be long gone but inequality fueled by his new liberal Economic Reforms still plagues the nation. And dissent is still quashed by a heavy handed state apparatus. The people in power examines whether forging a new constitution can turn the page in the most unequal of the worlds 13 wealthiest nations chile in a chaise legacy on a. John presence on Donald Trump Jr was promised a damaging information about Hillary Clinton allegation like to see an investigation say the troops did campaign with russia did you at any time of the urge the former f. B. I. Director james comey in any way shape or form the closer to back down the investigation into Michael Flynn and also as you well know. Next question Michael Field washington on aljazeera. 2 and a half 1000000 infections and dries in latin america overtakes europes number of corona virus cases. Someone when you want your observer alive might quarters here in doha also coming up a display for Independence Day the us president goes ahead with a
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