Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

The Sahel region of Africa is one of the regions of the world that is worst impacted by climate change. It is also a region beset by instability, insecurity and conflict. This episode, which was taped live in front of a virtual audience, examines the relationship between climate and security in a discussion featuring five panelists.    This episode is part of a series of episodes examining the relationship between climate and security, produced in partnership with CGIAR, the world's largest global agricultural innovation network. This episode was taped live in front of a virtual audience and featured five panelists discussing the intersection of climate and security in the Sahel region of Africa.       https://climatesecurity.cgiar.org

When a COVID-19 Vaccine is available, most of the world will have access to it thanks to a unique platform for international cooperation called The COVAX Facility.  The COVAX Facility is a platform for pooled investments in the development, manufacture and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine. At time of recording, 172 countries have entered into an initial agreement with COVAX, representing about 70% of the world's population.  The goal of the COVAX Facility is to provide 2 billion doses of a vaccine to cover 20% of the population of all participating countries by the end of 2021.    GAVI--The Vaccine Alliance administers COVAX and on the line with me today to explain how COVAX works is the Managing Director for Country Programs at GAVI Thabani Maphosa https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches http://undispatch.com/   

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, or the GERD, is a major hydroelectric project that is being built on the Blue Nile river near the border with Sudan.  The dam promises to bring a much needed source of electricity to the people of Ethiopia. But the dam sits on what is the main tributary to the Nile River. Egypt, which is downstream from Ethiopia, has been vehemently opposed to its construction. Egypt contends that the dam will restrict water flow and undermine its rights to the Nile waters. Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan are now locked in a fight over water and who gets to benefit from the Nile River. On the line with me to explain the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is Mekdelawit Messay, an independent water science researcher based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Today’s episode is supported in part from a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to showcase African voices in peace and security issues.  https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches https://www.undispatch.com/category/podcast/    

When a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, chances are that the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) will have played a big role in bringing it into the world.  CEPI is a partnership between governments, philanthropies and civil society organizations to support the development of vaccines and medicines for infectious diseases that have the potential to become pandemics. When COVID-19 emerged, CEPI made early investments in vaccine research and development and in building infrastructure around the mass production of a vaccine.  In this episode, the CEO of CEPI Richard Hatchett explains how this platform for international cooperation is supporting the development of a COVID-19 Vaccine that will be made available worldwide as a public good.  This episode is Part 1 of of a series examining how international cooperation and "vaccine multilateralism" is accelerating an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.  https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches https://www.undispatch.com/category/podcast/  

The Central African Republic is near the bottom of every major economic or development indicator. Out of 189 countries ranked in the UN Development Program's Human Development Index, the Central African Republic is second to last. When it comes to life expectancy at birth, the country ranks dead-last. It is also a country that is emerging from civil war.  Despite these challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic is not raging out of control in CAR. This is in large part due to the work of the World Health Organization, UN Peacekeeping, the Government of CAR -- and specifically Dr. Marie Roseline Belizaire. She is a Haitian epidemiologist with the World Health Organization who was deployed to the Central African Republic early in the pandemic to assist the country with COVID -19 preparedness and response plan.  We kick off discussing how her work fighting ebola across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo has informed her response to COVID in the Central African Republic. We then discuss some of the strategies she developed in partnership with the government and the UN peacekeeping mission which has helped to contain the spread of COVID in the Central African Republic.   

Joe Biden formally accepts the Democratic party's nomination for US President this week at the Democratic National Convention. The convention is always a key moment in the presidential election calendar so I thought this would be a good opportunity to have a discussion about what a Joe Biden administration's foreign policy agenda would look like? And whether or not there is something that could be credibly called a "Biden Doctrine?" Other than Joe Biden himself, Steve Clemons is the perfect person to discuss this question -- not least of which is because in August 2016, he wrote an article for the Atlantic called "The Biden Doctrine." Steve Clemons is the Editor at Large for The Hill, which is a media outlet that focuses on Congressional affairs. He has also had a career in which he has straddled journalism and insider foreign policy circles, which gives him a unique perspective as a foreign policy analyst.  If you’re interested in hearing more about topical global issues, check out Rising to Respond… a podcast that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes for humanitarians to fight COVID-19 around the world. Brought to you by World Vision. They’re covering stories you’re not seeing in the news. Hear from global leaders, frontline workers and children about the realities they’re facing during this global pandemic. You can find Rising to Respond on your favorite podcast player https://undispatch.com https://patreon.com/globaldispatches https://www.wvi.org/risingtorespond 

Belarus is sometimes referred to as Europe's last dictatorship. Since 1994 it has been ruled by just one man -- Alexander Lukashenko, and he has ruled the country with an iron fist.  In early August Belarusians went to the polls for presidential elections in which Lukashenko was declared the winner by a wide margin.  Belarusians, however, did not accept the results and took to the streets in record numbers. Government forces cracked down hard and the main opposition candidate was apparently detained and then removed from the country.  Belarus is bordered on one side by Russia and the other by the European Union. The fate of Lukashenko is of profound importance to Russia and Europe -- and increasingly the United States.  On the line to provide some context for understanding these recent events in Belarus is Stephen Nix. He is the regional director for Eurasia at the International Republican Institute and a longtime policy hand focusing on former Soviet Republics     

China is the world's largest consumer of coal, though in recent years the government has sought to reduce the country's reliance on coal for energy. This includes transitioning away from coal for home heating. In 2014, the government launched what is known as the household heating energy transition program. This program sought to replace household coal heating units with electricity, natural gas, or cleaner burning coal. Like many Chinese infrastructure projects it was a massive undertaking. It was also directed by the government, top down, and mandatory for homes that used dirty burning coal.  My guest today, Lunyu Xie is Associate Professor at the School of Applied Economics, Renmin University of China. She conducted a unique cost-benefit study of this program that analyzed both the effectiveness of the household heating energy transition program.  Dirty burning coal from home heating units is a major pollutant, particularly in northern China that both causes significant harm to individual health and also contributes to climate change. What makes Lunyu Xie's study so significant is that she uses data from household surveys to see how this major government program benefits end users--or not.  Today’s episode is part of series of episodes that showcase the research and work of the Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative. SETI is an interdisciplinary global collaborative that aims to foster research on energy access and energy transitions in low and middle-income countries. Currently, SETI is housed at Duke University, where it is led by Professors Subhrendu Pattanayak and Marc Jeuland. To learn more about SETI, follow them on Twitter @SETIenergy.

The story of a leaky oil tanker stranded off the coast of Yemen is, in part, the story of the country's civil war. There are about a million gallons of oil stored in this tanker, which has not been operational since 2015. That is when Yemen's civil war escalated into an international conflict pitting Houthi rebels who overthrew the government against an international coalition lead by Saudi Arabia. Since then, the condition of this old oil tanker has deteriorated and is threatening to cause what would be the world's worst-ever oil spill, causing immense environmental, economic and humanitarian damage throughout the Red Sea. The Houthi rebels control access to this tanker and so far, they have not permitted UN experts or an international team to inspect the tanker, nor take steps to safely remove the oil from it.  On the line to discuss is Gerry Simpson, Associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. He has been following the situation with the tanker closely and We kick off discussing the history of this tanker before having a broader conversation about the possible damage that a leak may inflict and its broader relationship to the conflict in Yemen.  The situation with the tanker is something that has been on the radar of the UN Security Council, and even US Congress. The damage from an oil spill would be at a scale that is hard to comprehend.  It's a crisis waiting to happen and so far there has been very little progress in securing the tanker. https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches

Mali is in the midst of its worst political crisis in years. Since June, protesters have gathered in the streets of the capital city of Bamako demanding the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. On top of this, a conflict in the northern part of the country, to which the UN has deployed a large peacekeeping mission, is continuing to drive instability throughout the country.  My guest, Dr. Amadou Bocoum, is the Mali Director for the NGO Search for Common Ground and I caught up with him from Bamako, the capital city which is in the South.  In our conversation, Amadou Bocoum describes how these protests were sparked by a court decision to annul the results of parliamentary elections. But as he explains, the discontent that is driving these protests runs much deeper.  This is a useful conversation about a crisis that is very much unfolding at the present time -- and is one that is of profound regional and international significance.  Today’s episode is supported in part from a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to showcase African voices in peace and security issues.