The debate over animal-based foods highlights urgent environmental concerns. While alternatives face challenges, transitioning to sustainable consumption is imperative. Also in today’s edition: USAID holds buzzing jobs fair, how elections around the world will affect women’s rights, and we look at the 2024 United States budget.
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The ongoing ethical, environmental, and health debate surrounding the production and consumption of animal-based foods seems interminable with no clear solution in sight. Despite decades of attempts to introduce meat alternatives, with ancient tofu being the sole exception, none have gained significant traction.
But the grim reality remains: Animal farming churns out an immense cloud of greenhouse gas methane, while our bodies require protein for optimal health.
Urgent action is imperative. The environmental and health repercussions of maintaining current consumption levels are astronomical. One-third of current greenhouse gas emissions stem from food systems, with livestock farming responsible for a meaty 60%.
That brings profound nutritional implications, especially for people in low- and middle-income countries, should the availability of animal-sourced foods diminish — a shift advocated by many climate activists, writes Andrew Green for Devex.
Navigating this multifaceted issue is undeniably complex, as highlighted by Jessica Fanzo, a Columbia University professor, who recently hosted a discussion on the interconnectedness of agriculture, health, and the environment. “We can’t disentangle how difficult this will be to fulfill the nutrient needs of 10 billion people living on this planet. We have massive injustice and inequities in people’s ability to access healthy diets,” she said. While there is no quick fix, there are promising avenues for mitigating the environmental toll of animal agriculture, such as vaccines to curb methane emissions from livestock. But it's crucial to recognize that technological innovations alone won't suffice — a reduction in animal product consumption is imperative.
For the livestock sector to align with the Paris Agreement's ambitious target of limiting global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, emissions must be curbed. And certainly, scaling back on processed meats, which offer little nutritional value, also presents a viable pathway toward sustainability and improved public health.
Read: No easy answers in shift away from animal-based foods
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Gender equality and the elections super year
There are a record number of elections this year — call it an election super year. And that presents a crucial moment for women’s and girls’ rights, particularly given the increasing politicization of gender issues and the predicted swing to the right in many elections.
Taroub Harb Faramand, founder of consultancy WI-HER, spoke at a recent Devex Pro Live event about the implications of the elections for gender equality. She highlighted three areas of focus.
Women still face significant barriers to exercising their right to vote; even when women participate as voters, they face barriers to running for and holding political office; and the outcomes of elections can have significant implications for gender equality policies and programs.
“I’m concerned about what’s going to happen in the EU,” where parliamentary elections take place in June. “There’s a prediction that it will move to the right. This will directly affect funding going to reproductive health and other issues related to sexual violence, [as well as] issues related to migration which directly affect equity and equality,” Faramand said.
Watch: What elections around the world mean for gender equality
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The 2024 U.S. budget has finally been revealed, and as usual, lawmakers are fighting time to avoid a partial shutdown at midnight. It would have been a nail-biter if it wasn’t so predictable.
While money is tight, there’s an almost 6% cut for foreign affairs funding, disproportionately large versus other spending, according to development advocates Devex Senior Reporter Adva Saldinger consulted.
“Given what’s going on in the world and the number of global crises it’s a significant failure to meet the moment,” says ONE Campaign's Liz Liebowitz. “It does seem like a pretty stark cut compared to where the other bills came in.”
But others were grateful that the cuts weren’t even larger. “It’s definitely not as bad as it could have been,” says Keifer Buckingham from Open Society Foundations. “I think people are looking at this bill and saying, ‘OK, take a little sigh of relief, but we have a lot of work to do for 2025.’”
But the cuts were not meted out proportionately, Adva says. Humanitarian funding in USAID’s International Disaster Assistance account is up about $800 million, and the U.S. global AIDS initiative PEPFAR got the same as 2023. But the key development assistance accounts had steep cuts, as did global health security.
Read more: 2024 US foreign affairs funding bill a 'slow-motion gut punch'
Related: Budget constraints limit foreign affairs funding in Biden proposal
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Connecting the dots: Optimizing TB diagnostics in the Philippines
By mapping and analyzing diagnostic networks across different locations, the Philippines has made significant strides in optimizing TB diagnostics.
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Hiring crisis? What hiring crisis?
On Monday morning, a flurry of 200 suits — pinstripe and otherwise — ties and heels clutching resumes streamed through the doors of USAID in Washington, D.C., all eager to bid on 35 job opportunities at the Bureau for Management’s first hiring fair.
The jobs up for grabs had been hard to fill. For years, USAID leaders have talked of a staffing crisis centered around its contracting officers, employees who award and administer USAID’s grants, agreements, and contracts. It’s a critically important role — but in recent years, the agency has struggled to retain that workforce, writes my colleague Elissa Miolene.
“I don’t think anyone ever raised their hand in kindergarten and said, ‘Mommy, I want to be a contracting officer when I grow up,’” Jami Rodgers, USAID’s director of the Office of Acquisitions and Assistance, said to the room of candidates. “I know I certainly didn’t.”
And yet, the career fair was buzzing with people eager to get a USAID job, including those hoping to become contract specialists. Before the event even started, 672 resumes had been submitted, interim DEI Coordinator Erin Brown tells Elissa. Dozens more waited in line to do the same, while many other pre-approved candidates teed up for interviews that afternoon.
Read: What we learned at USAID's Management Bureau job fair
ICYMI: Can Jami Rodgers fix USAID's contracting crisis?
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Join us for the 2024 Skoll World Forum
Take part in 2024’s seminal convening to collaborate on social change. Join thousands of delegates and speakers to learn, connect, and take collective action. This year’s Skoll World Forum will take place on April 9-12. Join us online, with free virtual participation open to everyone. Registration is required.
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With the United Kingdom likely to head into elections in the second half of this year, Bond, the U.K. network for development organizations, published a manifesto containing its key asks for the next government.
With the opposition Labour Party ahead in the polls, it’s effectively a wish list of things U.K. civil society wants Lisa Nandy, who is expected to be the next development minister, and her bosses to add to their own manifesto.
The Bond manifesto calls for a greater focus on locally led development and humanitarian relief, and more money to be spent on the poorest in the world, among other things. Devex Business Editor David Ainsworth has the full list of their demands.
Read: What the aid sector wants from the next UK government
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The U.N. Security Council will vote today on a U.S. resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire lasting six weeks in Gaza to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. [Reuters]
Japan is collaborating with the World Health Organization and the World Bank to establish an international hub for universal health coverage by 2025. [Japan News]
The U.N. on Thursday adopted its first resolution on artificial intelligence, ensuring safe use of the emerging technology. [Al Jazeera]
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Thank you for reading today’s Newswire, edited by Rumbi Chakamba, copy edited by Nicole Tablizo, and produced by Yula Mediavillo. Have a news tip? Email [email protected].
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