This issue of the journal "History of Science and Technology" has been prepared in difficult conditions. In difficult conditions for authors… In difficult conditions for reviewers . In difficult conditions for the editorial board… In difficult conditions for the whole world in general!!! This issue contains ten articles. The first of these articles came in late 2019, when the world did not know yet these terrible words: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19); severe acute respiratory syndrome Corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)… COVID-19 was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since spread worldwide, resulting in an ongoing pandemic. As on May 29, 2020, when these lines were written, more than 5800000 cases were recorded in 188 countries, killing more than 359000 people. We hope that humanity will invent a vaccine as soon as possible, and these horrific death statistics will first stop growing and then stop altogether. For this, many events and activities are important, as history shows. Including the history of the development of science and technology, that is the subject area of our publication. In many sources on the history of electric power production the evolution of electric power production was studied both in developed and developing countries and its impact on economy. The growing demand for electric power became the most problem that stood before the power sector of Ghana. This issue begins with an article examining activities that in many ways helped to create a sustainable electricity supply for households and industries in Ghana, especially in the cities of Accra and Kumasi, between 1900 and 1960. Scientific-technical borrowings are one of those types of scientific support for the work of industrial sectors, whose role in the conditions of exiting the crisis to acquiring the particular importance. Since the mid-1920s, they have become the main way of scientific support for the organization of the development of Ukrainian electric machine-building industry in the context of large-scale electrification of the country. That was due to the need for a quick withdrawal of this industry from the previous crisis in the absence in the Ukrainian SSR of its own scientific support system for the electric machine engineering. An example of this measure, which was considered in the study, was an attempt to achieve the fastest possible increase in productivity of the Kharkiv Electromechanical Plant at minimal financial cost. The next article analyzes the activities of the mining industry in the south of the Russian Empire, of which Ukraine was a part of that time. An analysis of the so-called "coal crisis" and the role of large miners in collusion has been made. Market monopolization has been considered. Emphasis is made on the customs policy of the tsarist government, speculation on temporary fuel difficulties. The study shows that in the last quarter of the nineteenth century there was a consolidation and monopolization of the mining industry in the south of the Russian Empire. In the 21st century, every reputable journal also has an online version, which makes the dissemination of scientific information almost instantaneous. We are so accustomed to the conveniences of the information age that it is difficult for us to imagine the difficulties that scientists faced a little over 150 years ago. The genesis of science launched the process of forming branch of scientific communities and demanded stable ways of communication for productive and effective development of the branch. Scientific journals have become an ideal means of disseminating information, and a scientific article has been transformed from an ordinary letter into a modern form and has taken on an ideal form. The importance of international communication between scientists, on the example of consideration of the activities of Valerian Mykolaiovych Lihin, is discussed in the following study. He became the first Russian-speaking member of one of the oldest Mathematical Societies in Europe - the French. V. Lihin broke the tradition of "isolated" science when discoveries in the Russian Empire (and later in the USSR) were made separately from the rest of the world. In the next article an attempt to investigate in a chronological order the historical circumstances on the formation and development of the mainline electric locomotives engineering at the Luhansk diesel locomotives engineering plant (1957–2014) has been made. Historical and biographical research is continued by the article, which considers the factors shaping the scientific worldview of Mykola Pavlovych Petrov - an outstanding scientist and engineer against the background of his initiative and organizational efforts to develop the domestic scientific and technical space of the late nineteenth - early twentieth The article devoted to highlighting the contribution of academician Mariia Vasylivna Pavlova (Gortynska) in the development of palaeozoology science at the end of the XIX – the first third of the XX centuries continues the cycle of historical and biographical researches. We hope that our readers will be interested in scientific work, examining the research of Russian women in the field of human genetics in 1920-1930. The main task of the article was to determine the contribution of women scientists to the development of different fields of human genetics. Particular attention was given to reconstructing women's geneticists' research work, reviewing the content of their publications, and analyzing the theoretical and methodological approaches they employed in solving various scientific problems. In the history of Ukrainian archeology, there are many names of outstanding researchers who have devoted their lives to the study of our antiquity. Among them is Yulian Kulakovskyi, a well-known domestic historian and archeologist. In 1883 Yu. A. Kulakovskyi joined the Nestor Chronicler Historical Society. Since that time, his life and career have been closely linked to this scientific union. The analysis of the results of researches in the field of late antique archeology of the Crimea, published on the pages of "Readings of the Historical Society of Nestor the Chronicler", is discussed in the next article. The development of the spread of COVID-19 shows that in the fight against it in the first place are such measures and actions as unrestricted access to information on methods of combating the spread of the virus; exchange of data at the international level on treatment methods of the disease; communication between scientists from different countries; timely quarantine measures, etc. In this sense, it is important to study the historical experience of mankind in the fight against pandemics. This issue of the journal History of Science and Technology concludes with an article on a critical analysis of nineteenth-century military interventions as the main cause of the spread of infectious diseases internationally. Emerging problems and solutions obtained as a result of a critical analysis of the materials of the International Sanitary Conferences reveal the history of the spread of infectious diseases and the methods of early statistics used for epidemiological purposes. Concluding this Preface, we emphasize once again the importance of a comprehensive study of international historical experience in the development of science and technology. Not limited to any one field or field of science, we are ready to provide the pages of our journal for the opportunity to exchange views with the international scientific community. Let peace and health be with everyone in these hard times! ; This issue of the journal "History of Science and Technology" has been prepared in difficult conditions. In difficult conditions for authors… In difficult conditions for reviewers . In difficult conditions for the editorial board… In difficult conditions for the whole world in general!!! This issue contains ten articles. The first of these articles came in late 2019, when the world did not know yet these terrible words: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19); severe acute respiratory syndrome Corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)… COVID-19 was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since spread worldwide, resulting in an ongoing pandemic. As on May 29, 2020, when these lines were written, more than 5800000 cases were recorded in 188 countries, killing more than 359000 people. We hope that humanity will invent a vaccine as soon as possible, and these horrific death statistics will first stop growing and then stop altogether. For this, many events and activities are important, as history shows. Including the history of the development of science and technology, that is the subject area of our publication. In many sources on the history of electric power production the evolution of electric power production was studied both in developed and developing countries and its impact on economy. The growing demand for electric power became the most problem that stood before the power sector of Ghana. This issue begins with an article examining activities that in many ways helped to create a sustainable electricity supply for households and industries in Ghana, especially in the cities of Accra and Kumasi, between 1900 and 1960. Scientific-technical borrowings are one of those types of scientific support for the work of industrial sectors, whose role in the conditions of exiting the crisis to acquiring the particular importance. Since the mid-1920s, they have become the main way of scientific support for the organization of the development of Ukrainian electric machine-building industry in the context of large-scale electrification of the country. That was due to the need for a quick withdrawal of this industry from the previous crisis in the absence in the Ukrainian SSR of its own scientific support system for the electric machine engineering. An example of this measure, which was considered in the study, was an attempt to achieve the fastest possible increase in productivity of the Kharkiv Electromechanical Plant at minimal financial cost. The next article analyzes the activities of the mining industry in the south of the Russian Empire, of which Ukraine was a part of that time. An analysis of the so-called "coal crisis" and the role of large miners in collusion has been made. Market monopolization has been considered. Emphasis is made on the customs policy of the tsarist government, speculation on temporary fuel difficulties. The study shows that in the last quarter of the nineteenth century there was a consolidation and monopolization of the mining industry in the south of the Russian Empire. In the 21st century, every reputable journal also has an online version, which makes the dissemination of scientific information almost instantaneous. We are so accustomed to the conveniences of the information age that it is difficult for us to imagine the difficulties that scientists faced a little over 150 years ago. The genesis of science launched the process of forming branch of scientific communities and demanded stable ways of communication for productive and effective development of the branch. Scientific journals have become an ideal means of disseminating information, and a scientific article has been transformed from an ordinary letter into a modern form and has taken on an ideal form. The importance of international communication between scientists, on the example of consideration of the activities of Valerian Mykolaiovych Lihin, is discussed in the following study. He became the first Russian-speaking member of one of the oldest Mathematical Societies in Europe - the French. V. Lihin broke the tradition of "isolated" science when discoveries in the Russian Empire (and later in the USSR) were made separately from the rest of the world. In the next article an attempt to investigate in a chronological order the historical circumstances on the formation and development of the mainline electric locomotives engineering at the Luhansk diesel locomotives engineering plant (1957–2014) has been made. Historical and biographical research is continued by the article, which considers the factors shaping the scientific worldview of Mykola Pavlovych Petrov - an outstanding scientist and engineer against the background of his initiative and organizational efforts to develop the domestic scientific and technical space of the late nineteenth - early twentieth The article devoted to highlighting the contribution of academician Mariia Vasylivna Pavlova (Gortynska) in the development of palaeozoology science at the end of the XIX – the first third of the XX centuries continues the cycle of historical and biographical researches. We hope that our readers will be interested in scientific work, examining the research of Russian women in the field of human genetics in 1920-1930. The main task of the article was to determine the contribution of women scientists to the development of different fields of human genetics. Particular attention was given to reconstructing women's geneticists' research work, reviewing the content of their publications, and analyzing the theoretical and methodological approaches they employed in solving various scientific problems. In the history of Ukrainian archeology, there are many names of outstanding researchers who have devoted their lives to the study of our antiquity. Among them is Yulian Kulakovskyi, a well-known domestic historian and archeologist. In 1883 Yu. A. Kulakovskyi joined the Nestor Chronicler Historical Society. Since that time, his life and career have been closely linked to this scientific union. The analysis of the results of researches in the field of late antique archeology of the Crimea, published on the pages of "Readings of the Historical Society of Nestor the Chronicler", is discussed in the next article. The development of the spread of COVID-19 shows that in the fight against it in the first place are such measures and actions as unrestricted access to information on methods of combating the spread of the virus; exchange of data at the international level on treatment methods of the disease; communication between scientists from different countries; timely quarantine measures, etc. In this sense, it is important to study the historical experience of mankind in the fight against pandemics. This issue of the journal History of Science and Technology concludes with an article on a critical analysis of nineteenth-century military interventions as the main cause of the spread of infectious diseases internationally. Emerging problems and solutions obtained as a result of a critical analysis of the materials of the International Sanitary Conferences reveal the history of the spread of infectious diseases and the methods of early statistics used for epidemiological purposes. Concluding this Preface, we emphasize once again the importance of a comprehensive study of international historical experience in the development of science and technology. Not limited to any one field or field of science, we are ready to provide the pages of our journal for the opportunity to exchange views with the international scientific community. Let peace and health be with everyone in these hard times! ; This issue of the journal "History of Science and Technology" has been prepared in difficult conditions. In difficult conditions for authors… In difficult conditions for reviewers . In difficult conditions for the editorial board… In difficult conditions for the whole world in general!!! This issue contains ten articles. The first of these articles came in late 2019, when the world did not know yet these terrible words: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19); severe acute respiratory syndrome Corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)… COVID-19 was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since spread worldwide, resulting in an ongoing pandemic. As on May 29, 2020, when these lines were written, more than 5800000 cases were recorded in 188 countries, killing more than 359000 people. We hope that humanity will invent a vaccine as soon as possible, and these horrific death statistics will first stop growing and then stop altogether. For this, many events and activities are important, as history shows. Including the history of the development of science and technology, that is the subject area of our publication. In many sources on the history of electric power production the evolution of electric power production was studied both in developed and developing countries and its impact on economy. The growing demand for electric power became the most problem that stood before the power sector of Ghana. This issue begins with an article examining activities that in many ways helped to create a sustainable electricity supply for households and industries in Ghana, especially in the cities of Accra and Kumasi, between 1900 and 1960. Scientific-technical borrowings are one of those types of scientific support for the work of industrial sectors, whose role in the conditions of exiting the crisis to acquiring the particular importance. Since the mid-1920s, they have become the main way of scientific support for the organization of the development of Ukrainian electric machine-building industry in the context of large-scale electrification of the country. That was due to the need for a quick withdrawal of this industry from the previous crisis in the absence in the Ukrainian SSR of its own scientific support system for the electric machine engineering. An example of this measure, which was considered in the study, was an attempt to achieve the fastest possible increase in productivity of the Kharkiv Electromechanical Plant at minimal financial cost. The next article analyzes the activities of the mining industry in the south of the Russian Empire, of which Ukraine was a part of that time. An analysis of the so-called "coal crisis" and the role of large miners in collusion has been made. Market monopolization has been considered. Emphasis is made on the customs policy of the tsarist government, speculation on temporary fuel difficulties. The study shows that in the last quarter of the nineteenth century there was a consolidation and monopolization of the mining industry in the south of the Russian Empire. In the 21st century, every reputable journal also has an online version, which makes the dissemination of scientific information almost instantaneous. We are so accustomed to the conveniences of the information age that it is difficult for us to imagine the difficulties that scientists faced a little over 150 years ago. The genesis of science launched the process of forming branch of scientific communities and demanded stable ways of communication for productive and effective development of the branch. Scientific journals have become an ideal means of disseminating information, and a scientific article has been transformed from an ordinary letter into a modern form and has taken on an ideal form. The importance of international communication between scientists, on the example of consideration of the activities of Valerian Mykolaiovych Lihin, is discussed in the following study. He became the first Russian-speaking member of one of the oldest Mathematical Societies in Europe - the French. V. Lihin broke the tradition of "isolated" science when discoveries in the Russian Empire (and later in the USSR) were made separately from the rest of the world. In the next article an attempt to investigate in a chronological order the historical circumstances on the formation and development of the mainline electric locomotives engineering at the Luhansk diesel locomotives engineering plant (1957–2014) has been made. Historical and biographical research is continued by the article, which considers the factors shaping the scientific worldview of Mykola Pavlovych Petrov - an outstanding scientist and engineer against the background of his initiative and organizational efforts to develop the domestic scientific and technical space of the late nineteenth - early twentieth The article devoted to highlighting the contribution of academician Mariia Vasylivna Pavlova (Gortynska) in the development of palaeozoology science at the end of the XIX – the first third of the XX centuries continues the cycle of historical and biographical researches. We hope that our readers will be interested in scientific work, examining the research of Russian women in the field of human genetics in 1920-1930. The main task of the article was to determine the contribution of women scientists to the development of different fields of human genetics. Particular attention was given to reconstructing women's geneticists' research work, reviewing the content of their publications, and analyzing the theoretical and methodological approaches they employed in solving various scientific problems. In the history of Ukrainian archeology, there are many names of outstanding researchers who have devoted their lives to the study of our antiquity. Among them is Yulian Kulakovskyi, a well-known domestic historian and archeologist. In 1883 Yu. A. Kulakovskyi joined the Nestor Chronicler Historical Society. Since that time, his life and career have been closely linked to this scientific union. The analysis of the results of researches in the field of late antique archeology of the Crimea, published on the pages of "Readings of the Historical Society of Nestor the Chronicler", is discussed in the next article. The development of the spread of COVID-19 shows that in the fight against it in the first place are such measures and actions as unrestricted access to information on methods of combating the spread of the virus; exchange of data at the international level on treatment methods of the disease; communication between scientists from different countries; timely quarantine measures, etc. In this sense, it is important to study the historical experience of mankind in the fight against pandemics. This issue of the journal History of Science and Technology concludes with an article on a critical analysis of nineteenth-century military interventions as the main cause of the spread of infectious diseases internationally. Emerging problems and solutions obtained as a result of a critical analysis of the materials of the International Sanitary Conferences reveal the history of the spread of infectious diseases and the methods of early statistics used for epidemiological purposes. Concluding this Preface, we emphasize once again the importance of a comprehensive study of international historical experience in the development of science and technology. Not limited to any one field or field of science, we are ready to provide the pages of our journal for the opportunity to exchange views with the international scientific community. Let peace and health be with everyone in these hard times!
The article is an extended and revised version of the report published in April 2020 in Russian: E. Puchkov, N. Knyaginina, I. Novoselov, Sz. Jankiewicz, Covid-19 and GIA-2020: strategies for conducting final exams in foreign and Russian universities // Modern Education Analytics. Express edition No. 4. April 20, 2020. URL: https://ioe.hse.ru/mirror/pubs/share/359132748 (15.06.2020). ; COVID-19 pandemic has changed the functioning of all levels of education systems. Schools and universities had to quickly adapt and change their procedures according to conditions created by the epidemic. Long perceived as additional and backup solutions, different distance learning technologies, particularly internet-based, became the main solution for the continuation of education on all levels. Several issues have stood out particularly with this seismic change – one of those is the issue of final examinations in universities. This issue is especially crucial in Russia, where the successful passing of a state final examination, which combines majority of the topics from the study program, is a prerequisite for graduation. This paper aims to analyze and present different strategies which were used for final university examinations in different countries and universities of the world and compare it with the Russian practices. ; Evgenii Puchkov: epuchkov@hse.ru ; Nadezhda Knyaginina: nknyaginina@hse.ru ; Ivan Novoselov: inovoselov@hse.ru ; Szymon Jankiewicz: syankevich@hse.ru ; Evgenii Puchkov – analityk Laboratorium Prawa Edukacji Instytutu Edukacji Wyższej Szkoły Ekonomicznej w Moskwie (Rosja), doktorant w Instytucie Edukacji Wyższej Szkoły Ekonomicznej. Jego zainteresowania badawcze obejmują zagadnienia relacji pomiędzy polityką edukacyjną a prawodawstwem w zakresie zrównoważonego rozwoju, umiędzynarodowienie edukacji oraz badania porównawcze prawodawstwa edukacyjnego. ; Evgenii Puchkov – Analyst of the Education Law Laboratory of the Institute of Education, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, Ph.D. student in the Institute of Education of Higher School of Economics. His research interests include issues of relationship between educational policy and legislation with sustainable development, internationalization of education and comparative study of educational legislation. ; Nadezhda Knyaginina – pracownik badawczy Laboratorium Prawa Edukacji Instytutu Edukacji w Wyższej Szkole Ekonomicznej w Moskwie (Rosja). Posiada tytuł specjalisty w dziedzinie prawa na Wydziale Prawa Wyższej Szkoły Ekonomicznej. Jej zainteresowania badawcze obejmują zagadnienia prawa edukacyjnego, praw językowych, polityki językowej w działalności edukacyjnej, federalizmu w edukacji, jakości edukacji, standardów edukacyjnych i regulacji zapewniania jakości edukacji. ; Nadezhda Knyaginina – Research Fellow of the Education Law Laboratory of the Institute of Education, Higher School of Economics, Moscowholding Specialist Degree in Law from Faculty of Law of Higher School of Economics. Her research interests include issues of educational law, language rights, language policy in educational activities, federalism in education, quality of education, education standards and regulation of quality assurance of education. ; Ivan Novoselov – asystent badawczy Laboratorium Prawa Edukacji Instytutu Edukacji w Wyższej Szkole Ekonomicznej w Moskwie (Rosja). Posiada tytuł magistra prawa finansowego, podatkowego i celnego, uzyskany na Wydziale Prawa Wyższej Szkoły Ekonomicznej. Jego zainteresowania badawcze obejmują zagadnienia z zakresu prawa edukacyjnego, finansowego i budżetowego oraz studiów porównawczych z zakresu prawa edukacyjnego i finansowego. ; Ivan Novoselov – Research Assistant of the Education Law Laboratory of the Institute of Education, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russiaholding Master Degree in Financial, Tax and Customs Law from Faculty of Law of Higher School of Economics. His research interests include issues of educational law, financial and budgetary law and comparative studies of educational and financial legislation. ; Szymon Jankiewicz – doktor, prodziekan Wydziału Prawa, kierownik Laboratorium Prawa Edukacji Instytutu Edukacji w Wyższej Szkole Ekonomicznej w Moskwie (Rosja), doktor (kandydat nauk) prawa finansowego Instytutu Prawodawstwa i Prawa Porównawczego przy Rządzie Federacji Rosyjskiej oraz magister prawa finansowego, podatkowego i celnego na Wydziale Prawa Wyższej Szkoły Ekonomicznej. Jego zainteresowania badawcze obejmują zagadnienia prawa edukacyjnego, prawa finansowego, regulacji finansowych i budżetowych działalności edukacyjnej i instytucji edukacyjnych oraz regulacji zapewniania jakości kształcenia. ; Szymon Jankiewicz – Ph.D. Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law, Head of the Education Law Laboratory of the Institute of Education, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia with Ph.D. (Candidate of Sciences) in Financial Law from The Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation as well as Master Degree in Financial, Tax and Customs Law from Faculty of Law of Higher School of Economics. His research interests include issues of educational law, financial law, financial and budgetary regulation of educational activities and educational institutions and regulation of quality assurance of education. ; Evgenii Puchkov - Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia ; Nadezhda Knyaginina - Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia ; Ivan Novoselov - Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia ; Szymon Jankiewicz - Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia ; 7News. Coronavirus in Australia: Several universities won't record students' failed units during crisis, https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/coronavirus-in-australia-several-universities-wont-record-students-failed-units-during-crisis-c-949545. ; Bristol University. Assessment Options When Teaching Online. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/digital-education/guides/coronavirus/assessment/. ; Catholic University of Leuven. Exams 2020 General Guidelines https://admin.kuleuven.be/td/examens2020/en/general-guidelines. ; Examus, https://ru.examus.net. ; Federal Law No. 273-FZ of December 29, 2012 "On Education in the Russian Federation". ; Free University of Brussels. Back to Campus, https://www.vub.be/en/backtocampus#home. ; Harvard Crimson, Harvard Courses Turn to Monitored Exams, Open-Book Assessments, and Faith in Students As Classes Move Online, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/3/27/harvard-coronavirus-online-exams-academic-integrity/. ; Harvard Crimson. Harvard Law School Shifts to Mandatory Credit-Fail Grading System. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/3/21/harvard-coronavirus-law-school-credit-fail/. ; HSE University. Proctoring, https://elearning.hse.ru/proctoring2/. ; Interfax. Moscow State University will hold State Exams and Theses Defense Online, https://www.interfax.ru/russia/703559. ; Interfax. State Exams Were Cancelled in Several Ural Federal University Institutes, https://www.interfax-russia. ru/ural/main/gosekzameny-otmenili-v-ryade-institutov-urfu. ; ITMO University. Proctoring: How to Pass Exams Online, https://de.ifmo.ru/?node=news&id=2161. ; Izvestia. Ministry of Science and Higher Education Affirms the Right of Universities to Cancel State Exams, https://iz.ru/1000499/2020–04-16/v-minobrnauki-zaiavili-o-prave-vuzov-rossii-otkazatsia-ot-gosekzamenov. ; Kommersant. «Hands of the Student Should be Visible on the Screen»: Kommersant Learned How Exam Session Will be Handled during Quarantine, https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4314144. ; Law.com. Remaining 'T-14' Law Schools Yield to Mandatory Pass/Fail Pressure https://www.law.com/2020/03/31/with-passfail-now-the-norm-outlier-law-schools-face-student-backlash/?slreturn=20200525050454. ; Law.com. With Pass/Fail Now the Norm, Outlier Law Schools Face Student Backlash, https://www.law.com/2020/03/31/with-passfail-now-the-norm-outlier-law-schools-face-student-backlash/. ; Mare. How are we going to test (and do we let Big Brother watch)? https://www.mareonline.nl/en/background/how-are-we-going-to-test-and-do-we-let-big-brother-watch/. ; Nesavisimaya Gazeta, Students have rallied against proctoring, citing privacy concerns, https://www.ng.ru/content/articles/681938/. ; Order of Ministry of Higher Education and Science of Russian Federation № 648 of 8.05.2020 "On the activities of organizations subordinated to Ministry of Higher Education and Science of Russian Federation in the context of preventing the spread of a novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in the Russian Federation". ; Orgeon State University Exam Proctoring, https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/services/proctoring. ; Oxford University. Open-Book Exams, https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/exams/open-book?wssl=1. ; Pervoe Studenheskoye Agesntvo. 700 students of HSE couldn't pass online exams due to hacker attack, https://pervoe.online/news/student-v-vuze/8642-ddos_ataka_hse/. ; Procedures of Conducting Final State Attestation in Bachelor, Spetsialist and Master Higher Education Programs (adopted by Order of Ministry of Higher Education and Science №636 of 29 June 2015). ; ProctorEdu Technology, https://proctoredu.ru. ; ProctorFree Solutions for Education, https://proctorfree.com/. ; ProctorU Services, https://www.proctoru.com/services/ ; QS. Italian Institutions Reveal Their Coronavirus Insights: An Interview Series, https://www.qs.com/italian-institutions-reveal-their-coronavirus-insights-an-interview-series. ; TASS. Financial University Cancelled State Exams Due to Coronavirus, https://tass.ru/obschestvo/8244377. ; The Guardian. Medical students take final exams online for first time, despite student concern, https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/mar/22/coronavirus-forces-medical-students-sit-final-exams-online. ; The Guardian. UK students' union calls on universities to cancel summer exams, https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/mar/31/uk-students-union-calls-on-universities-to-cancel-summer-exams. ; The New Paper. NUS students allegedly abuse Covid-19 measures to cheat on exam, https://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore/nus-students-allegedly-abuse-covid-19-measures-cheat-exam. ; The New York Times. With Coronavirus Disrupting College, Should Every Student Pass? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/us/coronavirus-college-pass-fail.html. ; The New York Times. Keeping Online Testing Honest? Or an Orwellian Overreach? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/us/online-testing-cheating-universities-coronavirus.html. ; The Verge. 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Examinations, https://warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/examinations/. ; 25 ; 4 ; 257 ; 271
Despite myriad challenges, Kenya has emerged in recent years as one of Africa's frontier economies, with headline growth in the most recent decade propelling the country toward middle-income status. Less well understood is how risk dynamics associated with production, markets, and policy adversely impact sector performance, in terms of both influencing ex ante decision making among farmers, traders, and other sector stakeholders and causing ex post losses to crops, livestock, and incomes - destabilizing livelihoods and jeopardizing the country's food security. The present study was commissioned in part to bridge this knowledge gap. It is the first step in a multiphase process designed to integrate a stronger risk focus into sector planning and development programs. It seeks to learn from and build on a range of broad initiatives by the Government of Kenya (GoK) and its development partners purposed to enhance Kenya's resilience and response to natural disasters. The ultimate objective is implementation of a holistic and systematic risk management system that will reduce the vulnerability and strengthen the resiliency of Kenya's agricultural supply chains, and the livelihoods that depend on them. This sector risk assessment is the primary output of phase one. The study's main objective is to identify, assess, and prioritize principal risks facing Kenya's agriculture sector by analyzing their impacts via quantitative and qualitative measures. The study's main findings highlight an agriculture sector increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather variability. Chapter one gives introduction. Chapter two provides an overview of Kenya's agriculture sector and a discussion of key growth constraints. Chapter three assesses the main agricultural risks (production, market, and enabling environment). Chapter four analyzes the frequency and severity of the major risks identified and assesses their impact. Chapter five presents some stakeholder perceptions of these risks and the potential to improve their management. Chapter six concludes with an assessment of priorities for risk management and a broad discussion of possible risk management measures that can help to strengthen the resiliency of agricultural supply chains and the livelihoods they support.
The pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner and Buhrer) Nickle 1970, is the causal agent of the so-called pine wilt disease in susceptible conifer species, mainly Pinus spp., outside its natural range (North America) and in non-native pine species. Since its introduction to Asia and Europe, it has become the most harmful plant parasitic nematode of trees. Diseased trees wilt and die. Currently affected European countries are Portugal and Spain. Because of the observed threat in infested countries, B. xylophilus is listed as a quarantine pest in the European Union. In this PhD thesis, which is part of a European Union research project of the European Union Commission, investigations were conducted to support the pest risk analysis, management strategies and contingency planning of European Union Plant Health policy. The transmission of B. xylophilus to new host trees is commonly by vector beetles of the genus Monochamus. However, B. xylophilus have been complained in wood chips with origin North America imported to the European Union, and the demand for wood chip imports from North America is increasing. Therefore, the phytosanitary risk of non-vector transmission of B. xylophilus by wood chips is of interest. Moreover, Pinus sylvestris, a widespread tree species in Germany and northeastern Europe, was found to be highly susceptible to B. xylophilus in greenhouse trials using saplings. In Europe, mature trees of this species have not yet been tested. The third part of this thesis was an evaluation of potentially tolerant or resistant host tree provenances as an option for management of pine wilt disease in affected countries. The long-term survival of B. xylophilus in wood chips and its non-vector spread from infested wood chips to non-infested trees were investigated. B. xylophilus-infested wood chips were produced by inoculating a nematode-tap water suspension into P. sylvestris logs. During the long-term storage test, the survival of B. xylophilus was studied in sealed and openly stored P. sylvestris wood chips at 15 °C and 25 °C. For the investigation of non-vector spread, B. xylophilus-infested wood chips were placed on P. sylvestris saplings under different conditions. Investigations using seven- to eight-year-old trees were conducted to examine the significance of sapling-based analyses of the population dynamics and pathogenicity of the pest for mature P. sylvestris trees. The trees were artificially inoculated with B. xylophilus using a nematode-tap water suspension. For nematode extraction during the population dynamics investigation, the pines were divided into 48 segments. Physiological changes and the development of wilt symptoms were recorded until tree death. The pathogenicity of B. xylophilus towards different German pine provenances (according to the German Legal Ordinance on Regions of Provenance) was studied. For this purpose, P. sylvestris saplings were artificially inoculated with B. xylophilus using a nematode-tap water suspension. In the sealed wood chips, B. xylophilus was found for more than 1 year at 15 °C and 25 °C. This was significantly longer than the duration observed for the variant openly stored at 25 °C. Furthermore, non-vector spread through wood chips was influenced by temperature, tree condition and wood chip location. Trees with stem or root injuries plus direct contact of the wounded part with infested wood chips at 25 °C were primarily B. xylophilus-infested and showed clear symptoms of pine wilt disease. Moreover, for stem- and root-injured pines, direct contact with infested wood chips was not always necessary for non-vector spread. At 15 °C, one B. xylophilus-infested pine exhibited clear symptoms of pine wilt disease. At the start of the population dynamics investigation, B. xylophilus was located at the inoculation site and in adjacent segments. Before any external wilt symptoms developed, B. xylophilus was located in the entire stem, adjacent branch segments, root collar and roots. Finally, B. xylophilus was detected in all wood and root segments in combination with an increase in pine wilt disease and high nematode densities. Shortly before tree death, the treetop was partly nematode-free, and the subjacent tree segments were highly nematode-infested. During the pathogenicity investigation, all B. xylophilus-inoculated pines died and exhibited a significant but variable decline in the water potential in the needles compared to a drought-stressed variant. All tested P. sylvestris provenances showed a mortality of 100 %. However, significant differences in the time course of disease development were found for a few provenances. In conclusion, long-term survival in wood chips and non-vector transmission from infested wood chips to damaged trees were clearly shown, although such establishment should be less likely than spread via vectors. These findings should be tested in outdoor trials. P. sylvestris saplings are good indicator trees for investigations of B. xylophilus population dynamics and pathogenicity because the results in seven- to eight-year-old P. sylvestris trees were comparable to those in saplings, although delayed in reaching a population peak and developing wilt symptoms. The phenomena of delayed symptom development and delayed tree death of some pine provenances should be more closely examined with respect to potential defence traits. An ongoing search for tolerant or resistant provenances or individuals for cross-breeding purposes is suggested as part of a long-term phytosanitary strategy against B. xylophilus. Overall, the threat based on infested wood chips and the high risk for P. sylvestris forests must be considered in pest risk analysis, management strategies and contingency planning. ; Der Kiefernholznematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner und Buhrer) Nickle 1970, führt in anfälligen Koniferenarten, hauptsächlich Pinus spp., außerhalb seines natürlichen Verbreitungsgebietes (Nordamerika) und in nicht heimischen Kiefernarten zur sogenannten Kiefernwelkekrankheit. Er ist seit seiner Einschleppung nach Asien und Europa zum schädlichsten pflanzenparasitären Nematoden von Bäumen geworden. Erkrankte Bäume welken und sterben. Derzeit betroffene europäische Länder sind Portugal und Spanien. B. xylophilus ist in der Europäischen Union (EU) aufgrund der zu beobachteten Gefahr in Befallsländern als ein Quarantäneschädling gelistet. In dieser Doktorarbeit, die Teil eines EU-Forschungsvorhabens der EU-Kommission ist, wurden Untersuchungen zur Unterstützung der Schädlingsrisikoanalyse, Managementstrategien und Notfallplanung der EU-Pflanzengesundheitspolitik durchgeführt. Die Übertragung von B. xylophilus zu neuen Wirtsbäumen findet üblicherweise über Vektorkäfer der Gattung Monochamus statt. Es wurden jedoch B. xylophilus in importierten Holzhackschnitzeln mit Ursprung Nordamerika in der EU beanstandet und die Nachfrage nach Hackschnitzelimporten aus Nordamerika steigt. Daher ist das phytosanitäre Risiko der nicht-vektorassoziierten Übertragung von B. xylophilus mittels Hackschnitzeln von Interesse. Darüberhinaus stellte sich heraus, dass Pinus sylvestris, eine in Deutschland und Nordosteuropa weitverbreitete Baumart, in Gewächshausversuchen mit Sämlingen höchst anfällig gegenüber B. xylophilus ist. In Europa wurden bisher noch keine erwachsenen Bäume dieser Art getestet. Der dritte Teil dieser Doktorarbeit bestand aus einer Bewertung von potenziell toleranten oder resistenten Wirtsbaumherkünften als eine Managementoption der Kiefernwelkeerkrankung in betroffenen Ländern. Das Langzeitüberleben von B. xylophilus in Hackschnitzeln and seine nicht-vektorassoziierte Übertragung von befallenen Hackschnitzeln zu unbefallenen Bäumen wurden untersucht. Mit B. xylophilus befallene Hackschnitzel wurden hergestellt, indem eine Suspension bestehend aus Nematoden und Leitungswasser in P. sylvestris Stämme inokuliert wurde. Während des Langzeitlagerungstests wurde das Überleben von B. xylophilus in versiegelten und offen gelagerten P. sylvestris Hackschnitzeln bei 15 °C und 25 °C untersucht. Für die Untersuchung der nicht-vektorassoziierten Übertragung wurden mit B. xylophilus befallene Hackschnitzel unter unterschiedlichen Testbedingungen an P. sylvestris Sämlinge platziert. Es wurden Untersuchungen mit sieben- bis achtjährigen Bäumen durchgeführt, um die Aussagefähigkeit der auf Sämlingen basierenden Analysen zur Populationsdynamik und Pathgenität des Schädlings für erwachsene P. sylvestris Bäume zu überprüfen. Die Bäume wurden mit einer B. xylophilus Suspension bestehend aus Nematoden und Leitungswasser künstlich inokuliert. Zur Nematodenextraktion während der Populationsdynamikuntersuchung wurden die Kiefern in 48 Segmente geteilt. Physiologische Änderungen und die Entwicklung von Welkesymptomen wurden bis zum Tod der Bäume aufgenommen. Die Pathogenität von B. xylophilus wurde gegenüber unterschiedlichen deutschen Kiefernherkünften (gemäß der Deutschen Herkunftsgebietsverordnung) untersucht. Hierfür wurden P. sylvestris Sämlinge mit einer B. xylophilus Suspension bestehend aus Nematoden und Leitungswasser künstlich inokuliert. In den versiegelten Hackschnitzeln wurde B. xylophilus bei 15 °C und 25 °C mehr als 1 Jahr lang gefunden. Dies war signifikant länger als die zu beobachtende Dauer für die Variante offen gelagert bei 25 °C. Weiterhin war die nicht-vektorassoziierte Übertragung mittels Hackschnitzeln durch Temperatur, Baumzustand und Hackschnitzelposition beeinflusst. Hauptsächlich waren Bäume bei 25 °C mit Stamm- oder Wurzelverletzungen plus Direktkontakt des verwundeten Pflanzenabschnitts mit befallenen Hackschnitzeln mit B. xylophilus befallen und zeigten eindeutige Symptome der Kiefernwelkekrankheit. Darüberhinaus war für stamm- und wurzelverletzte Kiefern nicht immer ein Direktkontakt mit befallenen Hackschnitzeln für die nicht-vektorassoziierte Übertragung nötig. Bei 15 °C wies eine mit B. xylophilus befallene Kiefer eindeutige Symptome der Kiefernwelkekrankheit auf. Zu Beginn der Populationsdynamikuntersuchung war B. xylophilus in der Inokulationsstelle und den benachbarten Segmenten lokalisiert. Bevor externe Welkesymptome entstanden, war B. xylophilus im gesamten Stamm, den benachbarten Astsegmenten, Wurzelhals und Wurzeln lokalisiert. Schließlich wurde B. xylophilus in allen Holz- und Wurzelsegmenten in Kombination mit einer Zunahme der Kiefernwelkeerkrankung und hohen Nematodendichten festgestellt. Kurz vor dem vollständigen Absterben der Bäume war die Baumspitze teilweise nematodenfrei und die darunter liegenden Baumsegmente waren stark mit Nematoden befallen. Während der Pathogenitätsuntersuchung starben alle mit B. xylophilus inokulierten Kiefern und zeigten einen signifikanten, aber unterschiedlich verlaufenden Abfall des Wasserpotentials in den Nadeln im Vergleich zu einer trockengestressten Variante. Alle getesteten P. sylvestris Herkünfte zeigten eine Mortalität von 100 %. Es wurde jedoch eine zeitlich signifikant unterschiedlich verlaufende Krankheitsentwicklung bei wenigen P. sylvestris Herkünften gefunden. Schlussfolgernd betrachtet wurden das Langzeitüberleben in Hackschnitzeln und die nicht-vektorassoziierte Übertragung von befallenen Hackschnitzeln zu beschädigten Bäumen klar aufgezeigt, obwohl eine solche Etablierung weniger wahrscheinlich als eine Ausbreitung über Vektoren sein sollte. Diese Ergebnisse sollten in Freilandversuchen getestet werden. P. sylvestris Sämlinge sind gute Indikatorbäume für Untersuchungen der Populationsdynamik und Pathogenität von B. xylophilus, weil die Ergebnisse in sieben- bis achtjährigen P. sylvestris Bäumen vergleichbar zu denen in Sämlingen waren, auch wenn das Erreichen eines Populationsmaximums und die Entwicklung von Welkesymptomen zeitlich verzögert waren. Die Phänomene verspäteter Symptomentwicklung und verspäteten Baumtodes einiger Kiefernherkünfte sollten hinsichtlich potenzieller Abwehreigenschaften näher überprüft werden. Es wird eine fortlaufende Suche nach toleranten oder resistenten Herkünften oder Individuen für Kreuzungsvorhaben als Teil einer phytosanitären Langzeitstrategie gegen B. xylophilus vorgeschlagen. Alles in allem müssen die von befallenen Hackschnitzeln ausgehende Gefahr und das hohe Risiko für P. sylvestris Wälder bei der Schädlingsrisikoanalyse, den Managementstrategien und der Notfallplanung Berücksichtigung finden.
Der Kiefernholznematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner und Buhrer) Nickle 1970, führt in anfälligen Koniferenarten, hauptsächlich Pinus spp., außerhalb seines natürlichen Verbreitungsgebietes (Nordamerika) und in nicht heimischen Kiefernarten zur sogenannten Kiefernwelkekrankheit. Er ist seit seiner Einschleppung nach Asien und Europa zum schädlichsten pflanzenparasitären Nematoden von Bäumen geworden. Erkrankte Bäume welken und sterben. Derzeit betroffene europäische Länder sind Portugal und Spanien. B. xylophilus ist in der Europäischen Union (EU) aufgrund der zu beobachteten Gefahr in Befallsländern als ein Quarantäneschädling gelistet. In dieser Doktorarbeit, die Teil eines EU-Forschungsvorhabens der EU-Kommission ist, wurden Untersuchungen zur Unterstützung der Schädlingsrisikoanalyse, Managementstrategien und Notfallplanung der EU-Pflanzengesundheitspolitik durchgeführt. Die Übertragung von B. xylophilus zu neuen Wirtsbäumen findet üblicherweise über Vektorkäfer der Gattung Monochamus statt. Es wurden jedoch B. xylophilus in importierten Holzhackschnitzeln mit Ursprung Nordamerika in der EU beanstandet und die Nachfrage nach Hackschnitzelimporten aus Nordamerika steigt. Daher ist das phytosanitäre Risiko der nicht-vektorassoziierten Übertragung von B. xylophilus mittels Hackschnitzeln von Interesse. Darüberhinaus stellte sich heraus, dass Pinus sylvestris, eine in Deutschland und Nordosteuropa weitverbreitete Baumart, in Gewächshausversuchen mit Sämlingen höchst anfällig gegenüber B. xylophilus ist. In Europa wurden bisher noch keine erwachsenen Bäume dieser Art getestet. Der dritte Teil dieser Doktorarbeit bestand aus einer Bewertung von potenziell toleranten oder resistenten Wirtsbaumherkünften als eine Managementoption der Kiefernwelkeerkrankung in betroffenen Ländern. Das Langzeitüberleben von B. xylophilus in Hackschnitzeln and seine nicht-vektorassoziierte Übertragung von befallenen Hackschnitzeln zu unbefallenen Bäumen wurden untersucht. Mit B. xylophilus befallene Hackschnitzel wurden hergestellt, indem eine Suspension bestehend aus Nematoden und Leitungswasser in P. sylvestris Stämme inokuliert wurde. Während des Langzeitlagerungstests wurde das Überleben von B. xylophilus in versiegelten und offen gelagerten P. sylvestris Hackschnitzeln bei 15°C und 25°C untersucht. Für die Untersuchung der nicht-vektorassoziierten Übertragung wurden mit B. xylophilus befallene Hackschnitzel unter unterschiedlichen Testbedingungen an P. sylvestris Sämlinge platziert. Es wurden Untersuchungen mit sieben- bis achtjährigen Bäumen durchgeführt, um die Aussagefähigkeit der auf Sämlingen basierenden Analysen zur Populationsdynamik und Pathgenität des Schädlings für erwachsene P. sylvestris Bäume zu überprüfen. Die Bäume wurden mit einer B. xylophilus Suspension bestehend aus Nematoden und Leitungswasser künstlich inokuliert. Zur Nematodenextraktion während der Populationsdynamikuntersuchung wurden die Kiefern in 48Segmente geteilt. Physiologische Änderungen und die Entwicklung von Welkesymptomen wurden bis zum Tod der Bäume aufgenommen. Die Pathogenität von B. xylophilus wurde gegenüber unterschiedlichen deutschen Kiefernherkünften (gemäß der Deutschen Herkunftsgebietsverordnung) untersucht. Hierfür wurden P. sylvestris Sämlinge mit einer B. xylophilus Suspension bestehend aus Nematoden und Leitungswasser künstlich inokuliert. In den versiegelten Hackschnitzeln wurde B. xylophilus bei 15°C und 25°C mehr als 1Jahr lang gefunden. Dies war signifikant länger als die zu beobachtende Dauer für die Variante offen gelagert bei 25°C. Weiterhin war die nicht-vektorassoziierte Übertragung mittels Hackschnitzeln durch Temperatur, Baumzustand und Hackschnitzelposition beeinflusst. Hauptsächlich waren Bäume bei 25°C mit Stamm- oder Wurzelverletzungen plus Direktkontakt des verwundeten Pflanzenabschnitts mit befallenen Hackschnitzeln mit B. xylophilus befallen und zeigten eindeutige Symptome der Kiefernwelkekrankheit. Darüberhinaus war für stamm- und wurzelverletzte Kiefern nicht immer ein Direktkontakt mit befallenen Hackschnitzeln für die nicht-vektorassoziierte Übertragung nötig. Bei 15°C wies eine mit B. xylophilus befallene Kiefer eindeutige Symptome der Kiefernwelkekrankheit auf. Zu Beginn der Populationsdynamikuntersuchung war B. xylophilus in der Inokulationsstelle und den benachbarten Segmenten lokalisiert. Bevor externe Welkesymptome entstanden, war B. xylophilus im gesamten Stamm, den benachbarten Astsegmenten, Wurzelhals und Wurzeln lokalisiert. Schließlich wurde B. xylophilus in allen Holz- und Wurzelsegmenten in Kombination mit einer Zunahme der Kiefernwelkeerkrankung und hohen Nematodendichten festgestellt. Kurz vor dem vollständigen Absterben der Bäume war die Baumspitze teilweise nematodenfrei und die darunter liegenden Baumsegmente waren stark mit Nematoden befallen. Während der Pathogenitätsuntersuchung starben alle mit B. xylophilus inokulierten Kiefern und zeigten einen signifikanten, aber unterschiedlich verlaufenden Abfall des Wasserpotentials in den Nadeln im Vergleich zu einer trockengestressten Variante. Alle getesteten P. sylvestris Herkünfte zeigten eine Mortalität von 100%. Es wurde jedoch eine zeitlich signifikant unterschiedlich verlaufende Krankheitsentwicklung bei wenigen P. sylvestris Herkünften gefunden. Schlussfolgernd betrachtet wurden das Langzeitüberleben in Hackschnitzeln und die nicht-vektorassoziierte Übertragung von befallenen Hackschnitzeln zu beschädigten Bäumen klar aufgezeigt, obwohl eine solche Etablierung weniger wahrscheinlich als eine Ausbreitung über Vektoren sein sollte. Diese Ergebnisse sollten in Freilandversuchen getestet werden. P. sylvestris Sämlinge sind gute Indikatorbäume für Untersuchungen der Populationsdynamik und Pathogenität von B. xylophilus, weil die Ergebnisse in sieben- bis achtjährigen P. sylvestris Bäumen vergleichbar zu denen in Sämlingen waren, auch wenn das Erreichen eines Populationsmaximums und die Entwicklung von Welkesymptomen zeitlich verzögert waren. Die Phänomene verspäteter Symptomentwicklung und verspäteten Baumtodes einiger Kiefernherkünfte sollten hinsichtlich potenzieller Abwehreigenschaften näher überprüft werden. Es wird eine fortlaufende Suche nach toleranten oder resistenten Herkünften oder Individuen für Kreuzungsvorhaben als Teil einer phytosanitären Langzeitstrategie gegen B. xylophilus vorgeschlagen. Alles in allem müssen die von befallenen Hackschnitzeln ausgehende Gefahr und das hohe Risiko für P. sylvestris Wälder bei der Schädlingsrisikoanalyse, den Managementstrategien und der Notfallplanung Berücksichtigung finden. ; The pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner and Buhrer) Nickle 1970, is the causal agent of the so-called pine wilt disease in susceptible conifer species, mainly Pinus spp., outside its natural range (North America) and in non-native pine species. Since its introduction to Asia and Europe, it has become the most harmful plant parasitic nematode of trees. Diseased trees wilt and die. Currently affected European countries are Portugal and Spain. Because of the observed threat in infested countries, B. xylophilus is listed as a quarantine pest in the European Union. In this PhD thesis, which is part of a European Union research project of the European Union Commission, investigations were conducted to support the pest risk analysis, management strategies and contingency planning of European Union Plant Health policy. The transmission of B. xylophilus to new host trees is commonly by vector beetles of the genus Monochamus. However, B. xylophilus have been complained in wood chips with origin North America imported to the European Union, and the demand for wood chip imports from North America is increasing. Therefore, the phytosanitary risk of non-vector transmission of B. xylophilus by wood chips is of interest. Moreover, Pinus sylvestris, a widespread tree species in Germany and northeastern Europe, was found to be highly susceptible to B. xylophilus in greenhouse trials using saplings. In Europe, mature trees of this species have not yet been tested. The third part of this thesis was an evaluation of potentially tolerant or resistant host tree provenances as an option for management of pine wilt disease in affected countries. The long-term survival of B. xylophilus in wood chips and its non-vector spread from infested wood chips to non-infested trees were investigated. B. xylophilus-infested wood chips were produced by inoculating a nematode-tap water suspension into P. sylvestris logs. During the long-term storage test, the survival of B. xylophilus was studied in sealed and openly stored P. sylvestris wood chips at 15°C and 25°C. For the investigation of non-vector spread, B. xylophilus-infested wood chips were placed on P. sylvestris saplings under different conditions. Investigations using seven- to eight-year-old trees were conducted to examine the significance of sapling-based analyses of the population dynamics and pathogenicity of the pest for mature P. sylvestris trees. The trees were artificially inoculated with B. xylophilus using a nematode-tap water suspension. For nematode extraction during the population dynamics investigation, the pines were divided into 48 segments. Physiological changes and the development of wilt symptoms were recorded until tree death. The pathogenicity of B. xylophilus towards different German pine provenances (according to the German Legal Ordinance on Regions of Provenance) was studied. For this purpose, P. sylvestris saplings were artificially inoculated with B. xylophilus using a nematode-tap water suspension. In the sealed wood chips, B. xylophilus was found for more than 1year at 15°C and 25°C. This was significantly longer than the duration observed for the variant openly stored at 25°C. Furthermore, non-vector spread through wood chips was influenced by temperature, tree condition and wood chip location. Trees with stem or root injuries plus direct contact of the wounded part with infested wood chips at 25°C were primarily B. xylophilus-infested and showed clear symptoms of pine wilt disease. Moreover, for stem- and root-injured pines, direct contact with infested wood chips was not always necessary for non-vector spread. At 15°C, one B. xylophilus-infested pine exhibited clear symptoms of pine wilt disease. At the start of the population dynamics investigation, B. xylophilus was located at the inoculation site and in adjacent segments. Before any external wilt symptoms developed, B. xylophilus was located in the entire stem, adjacent branch segments, root collar and roots. Finally, B. xylophilus was detected in all wood and root segments in combination with an increase in pine wilt disease and high nematode densities. Shortly before tree death, the treetop was partly nematode-free, and the subjacent tree segments were highly nematode-infested. During the pathogenicity investigation, all B. xylophilus-inoculated pines died and exhibited a significant but variable decline in the water potential in the needles compared to a drought-stressed variant. All tested P. sylvestris provenances showed a mortality of 100%. However, significant differences in the time course of disease development were found for a few provenances. In conclusion, long-term survival in wood chips and non-vector transmission from infested wood chips to damaged trees were clearly shown, although such establishment should be less likely than spread via vectors. These findings should be tested in outdoor trials. P. sylvestris saplings are good indicator trees for investigations of B. xylophilus population dynamics and pathogenicity because the results in seven- to eight-year-old P. sylvestris trees were comparable to those in saplings, although delayed in reaching a population peak and developing wilt symptoms. The phenomena of delayed symptom development and delayed tree death of some pine provenances should be more closely examined with respect to potential defence traits. An ongoing search for tolerant or resistant provenances or individuals for cross-breeding purposes is suggested as part of a long-term phytosanitary strategy against B. xylophilus. Overall, the threat based on infested wood chips and the high risk for P. sylvestris forests must be considered in pest risk analysis, management strategies and contingency planning.
En esta primera sección del evento Economía de la Informalidad Conferencia 2020, se dio inauguración y se presentaron los siguientes aportes: Inaugural (0:00:00 - 0:16:09) a Cargo de José Alejandro Cheyne (Rector de la Universidad del Rosario) ; Juan José Echavarría (Gerente general, Banco de la República) ; Carlos Eduardo Sepúlveda Rico (Decano Facultad de Economía, Universidad del Rosario) - Keynote Speaker: Informalidad, antes, durante y más allá de COVID-19 (0:16:39 - 1:46:29) Ponencia a cargo de Mariano Bosch (Especialista Líder en la Unidad de Mercados Laborales y Seguridad, BID), Modera Carlos Alberto Medina Durango (Gerente Banco de la republica cede Medellín) - Lanzamiento del Laboratorio de Economía Experimental - REBEL por sus siglas en inglés. (1:46:48 - 1:52:50 ) a cargo de José Alejandro Cheyne (Rector de la Universidad del Rosario) y Sergio Pulgarín (Vicerrector de la Universidad del Rosario). - Esta fue una de las conclusiones de la primera jornada de la Conferencia Economía de la Informalidad, que realiza la Facultad de Economía de la Universidad del Rosario. Según el BID, por la pandemia de la COVID-19 se han perdido 26,59 millones de empleos en once países de América Latina. El trabajo informal se considera una de las problemáticas mundiales que afectan a la sociedad. Actualmente, se busca avanzar en una economía más incluyente, dando visibilidad a los problemas que aquejan el país, por ejemplo, que el porcentaje de trabajadores informales oscila en el 50%, con una mayor incidencia en mujeres y personas de menores ingresos. Así lo indicó Juan José Echavarría, gerente general del Banco de la República, quien aseguró que la situación de la informalidad implica que los trabajadores están excluidos de las leyes laborales y de los esquemas de seguridad social. Además, la contingencia actual del coronavirus genera unos riesgos específicos que agravan su situación. Al intervenir en la Conferencia Economía de la Informalidad, que organiza la Facultad de Economía de la Universidad del Rosario, Echavarría dijo que los trabajadores informales son particularmente más vulnerables a las crisis económicas y sanitarias, debido al cierre por las cuarentenas que ha aquejado, no solo a Colombia, sino a diferentes países del mundo. "Hacer frente al desafío de la informalidad durante la recuperación de la crisis sanitaria requerirá políticas integrales que tengan en cuenta las condiciones específicas de territorio, sus poblaciones y sus condiciones de vida", anotó el gerente del Emisor. La paradoja del talento humano Para José Alejandro Cheyne, rector de la Universidad del Rosario, la informalidad tiene graves problemas respecto al desafío de la COVID-19, ya que es fruto de lo que se conoce en América Latina como la paradoja del talento humano, en donde se supera la mano de obra, pero existe un déficit en talento, ya que los empresarios y las organizaciones manifiestan que las personas que necesitan no las encuentran en el mercado de las principales ciudades. La informalidad, según Cheyne, es el resultado de la desigualdad que existe en el país en diferentes variables como la educación, el uso y la apropiación de la tecnología y las oportunidades laborales. Para comprender la informalidad, Carlos Eduardo Sepúlveda, decano de la Facultad de Economía de la Universidad del Rosario, explicó que esta conferencia se enmarca en un espacio científico que nace de la idea de crear un programa a gran escala sobre la informalidad económica en el país. Este programa cuenta con la alianza de 18 instituciones nacionales e internacionales de índole educativo público y privado, gremios productivos y fundaciones. Financiados con recursos del programa Colombia Científica y coordinado por el Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología de Colombia, se creó un ecosistema científico para estudiar el problema de la informalidad económica. De acuerdo con Sepúlveda, este proyecto busca impactar de manera directa la política pública nacional y transformar realidades de poblaciones y comunidades estudiadas. Empleos perdidos por la pandemia Para Mariano Bosch, jefe (e) de la Unidad de Mercados Laborales y Seguridad Social del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), las empresas y los gobiernos deben buscar alternativas e incentivos para que la economía informal pueda disminuir. Del desarrollo y productividad de los países se generan nuevas alternativas de empleos formales que contribuirían a disminuir las tasas de informalidad en el país. Por la pandemia del coronavirus, 26,59 millones de empleos se han perdido en once países de América Latina desde el 21 de febrero hasta octubre, de acuerdo con el BID. Por esta razón, se deben repensar los elementos que giran en torno a la protección social. Por ejemplo, disminuir los costos de entrada de los cotizantes, asegurar desde las empresas el cumplimiento de los derechos laborales y generar más empleos formales con alternativas de costos respecto a impuestos que las mismas deben pagar, dijo el experto. Según Bosch, Colombia a diferencia de México obliga a los trabajadores a cotizar por cuenta propia. Sin embargo, si Colombia aumenta los incentivos de costos, tanto para empresas como para los trabajadores cotizantes, la formalidad iría en aumento. La creación de políticas de productividad, el incentivo educativo para estudios de este fenómeno de la informalidad económica, la creación de proyectos específicos, puede contribuir en el desarrollo de la economía formal y el descenso de las tasas de la informalidad, comentó. ; In this first section of the Economy of Informality Conference 2020 event, the following contributions were inaugurated and presented: Inaugural (0:00:00 - 0:16:09) by José Alejandro Cheyne (Rector of the Universidad del Rosario ); Juan José Echavarría (General Manager, Banco de la República); Carlos Eduardo Sepúlveda Rico (Dean of the School of Economics, Universidad del Rosario) - Keynote Speaker: Informality, before, during and beyond COVID-19 (0:16:39 - 1:46:29) Presentation by Mariano Bosch ( Lead Specialist in the Labor Markets and Safety Unit, IDB), Moderator Carlos Medina - Launch of the Laboratory of Experimental Economics - REBEL for its acronym in English. (1:46:48 - 1:52:50) by José Alejandro Cheyne (Rector of the Universidad del Rosario) and Sergio Pulgarín (Vice-Rector of the Universidad del Rosario). - This was one of the conclusions of the first day of the Informal Economy Conference, held by the Faculty of Economics of the Universidad del Rosario. According to the IDB, 26.59 million jobs have been lost in eleven Latin American countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Informal work is considered one of the global problems that affect society. Currently, it seeks to advance in a more inclusive economy, giving visibility to the problems that afflict the country, for example, that the percentage of informal workers oscillates at 50%, with a higher incidence in women and people with lower incomes. This was indicated by Juan José Echavarría, general manager of the Banco de la República, who assured that the situation of informality implies that workers are excluded from labor laws and social security schemes. In addition, the current contingency of the coronavirus generates specific risks that aggravate their situation. Speaking at the Informal Economy Conference, organized by the Faculty of Economics of the Universidad del Rosario, Echavarría said that informal workers are particularly vulnerable to economic and health crises, due to the closure due to the quarantines they have suffered, not only to Colombia, but to different countries in the world. "Facing the challenge of informality during the recovery from the health crisis will require comprehensive policies that take into account the specific conditions of the territory, its populations and their living conditions," noted the Issuer's manager. The paradox of human talent For José Alejandro Cheyne, rector of the Universidad del Rosario, informality has serious problems regarding the challenge of COVID-19, since it is the result of what is known in Latin America as the paradox of human talent, where labor is surpassed, But there is a deficit in talent, since entrepreneurs and organizations say that the people who need them cannot find them in the market of the main cities. Informality, according to Cheyne, is the result of the inequality that exists in the country in different variables such as education, use and appropriation of technology and job opportunities. To understand informality, Carlos Eduardo Sepúlveda, dean of the Faculty of Economics at the Universidad del Rosario, explained that this conference is part of a scientific space that was born from the idea of creating a large-scale program on economic informality in the country . This program has the alliance of 18 national and international institutions of a public and private educational nature, productive unions and foundations. Financed with resources from the Colombia Científica program and coordinated by the Colombian Ministry of Science and Technology, a scientific ecosystem was created to study the problem of economic informality. According to Sepúlveda, this project seeks to directly impact national public policy and transform the realities of the populations and communities studied. Jobs lost due to the pandemic For Mariano Bosch, head of the Labor Markets and Social Security Unit of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), companies and governments must look for alternatives and incentives so that the informal economy can decrease. From the development and productivity of the countries, new alternatives of formal employment are generated that would help to reduce the informality rates in the country. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, 26.59 million jobs have been lost in eleven Latin American countries from February 21 to October, according to the IDB. For this reason, the elements that revolve around social protection must be rethought. For example, reduce the entry costs of contributors, ensure that companies comply with labor rights and generate more formal jobs with cost alternatives with respect to taxes that they must pay, said the expert. According to Bosch, Colombia, unlike Mexico, forces workers to contribute on their own account. However, if Colombia increases cost incentives, both for companies and contributing workers, formality would increase. The creation of productivity policies, the educational incentive for studies of this phenomenon of economic informality, the creation of specific projects, can contribute to the development of the formal economy and the decrease in informality rates, he commented.
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Navigating challenging and complex civic spaces is nothing new for local organizations working to advance the rights and inclusion of LGBTI communities. Join NDI Senior Program Officer for Citizen Participation for a conversation with three partners from across the globe working to sustain their advocacy for equality and inclusion, while tackling some of the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Find us on: SoundCloud | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | Google Play Whitney Pfeifer: Navigating challenging and complex civic spaces is nothing new for local organizations working to advance the rights and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex communities. Regardless of the levels of tolerance and legal protection in a country, these groups know how to quickly adapt and utilize innovative approaches to maintaining their work and advocating for change. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has forced organizations to cancel Pride events, training, and in-person advocacy efforts, LGBTI organizations have been quick to respond and adjust, playing an integral role in meeting the basic needs of LGBTI individuals while utilizing online creativity to stay connected and sustain LGBTI community building. Today, we are joined by three partners from across the globe, each working to sustain their advocacy for equality and inclusion, while tackling some of the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic. We'll be speaking to each of these local partners to discover how they have successfully built digital communities that achieved real-life results. Welcome to DemWorks. In Panama, Fundación Iguales is working to shift social attitudes towards greater respect and acceptance of LGBTI communities. Part of this process includes collecting stories of how LGBTI communities are being impacted by COVID-19 and its response, demonstrating that as humans, we are all impacted by the pandemic, regardless of how we identify. We spoke with Ivan to learn more. Ivan, thank you for joining us. Ivan: Thank you. WP: Could you tell us a little bit more about the LGBTI community in Panama and the types of challenges LGBTI individuals face in building and maintaining a community? I: We are a country between Costa Rica, who just last month legalized civil marriage for same sex couples, and Colombia, a country with equal marriage since April 2016. We're a part of that less of the 30% of Latin Americans who live in a territory where marriage equality is prohibited. Moreover, are known for public policies that takes into consideration LGBTI persons. The challenges, there are many. As a gay person, for example, I'm not protected by any non-discrimination law, or the gender identity of the trans community is not part of what is respected by the government. There is unfortunately still a lot of stigma and discrimination for being queer. We're a small country where there's a strong control from conservatives and religious groups, but what are the good news, I guess? The civil society is finally organized, and organizations like Fundación Iguales are doing a marvelous work promoting the respect of our human rights, creating community, helping the LGBTIQ community to be more visible, and therefore more respected by the general public. We start a legal process to have marriage equality in Panama since 2016. We are very optimistic we will conquer in the courts and in the public opinion, by strategic innovative and emphatic messages of equality. WP: You alluded briefly to how Fundación is contributing to building and strengthening the community in Panama. Could you discuss the facts a little bit more about how Fundación is contributing to and strengthening during these uncertain times? I: First of all, with positive messages and with a clear presence in national conversations about the measures during the pandemic, highlighting the reality of LGBTI persons. We have had a very tough situation with restriction based on sex to restrain mobility of people here in Panama, and that had impacted dramatically the trans community and the nonbinary community of Panama, in some cases affecting their access to food and medicines. Yes, to be able to even go to the supermarket and buy bread and milk. We decided to join forces with other organizations, specifically with an organization called Hombres Trans Panamá. It's an organization conformed by trans men to create a solidarity network. The network was created for two main activities. The first one, it is to assist directly trans and non binary people who register for humanitarian assistance. We already covered 120 people who were in need of food and medicines. The second part of that program is an online survey to register discrimination cases for the trans community during the quarantine time. We have already had the report of 26 cases, mostly of trans person who were restricted to enter supermarkets to buy food because their gender identity or expression did not match what the police "expect" from them that day. That report was sent to the government, to regional organizations that monitor human rights, and we hope that impact possibly their lives. For other programs that Fundación Iguales is promoting during this times of pandemic, one that is very important is a series of podcasts called Panademia LGBTIQ+, a program of Fundación Iguales with [foreign language 00:06:20], which is an independent group of journalists to highlight stories of LGBTI persons during these times, telling their stories, especially the trans community. WP: That sounds like a lot of excellent work and strengthening the collaboration between groups has been really effective, I think, in this COVID pandemic situation. I: Indeed. WP: You alluded briefly to these podcasts. Are there other forms of technology that Fundación is using to continue the work that you're doing? I: Yes, and that's very interesting because we have to reinvent our work, basically. Just before COVID, we finished a super nice, unprecedented program going through the different provinces of Panama that we call the human rights tour, with the idea to be more democratic on the contents of human rights, specifically talking about Inter-American Court of Human Rights decision on equal marriage and gender identity, the Advisory Opinion 24. It was such a success and we planned to right away continue around the whole country. With this situation we have, being confined at home with mobility restrictions, we have to change all that, but we were lucky to have a strong presence in social media with a robust content that we were able to share and build from it. Also, our capacity of doing initiatives jointly with other NGOs like I mentioned before and you highlight, were also key to show the work that we were doing on respecting human rights. That coordination and collaborations, like the podcast example, the solidarity network, the level of infographic videos and social media interactions of Fundación Iguales are very solid. Since we dedicate an important part of our work to be present in national and international platforms for political participation, that allowed us to be more visible and not to be forget during these complicated times, WP: It sounds that you've been able to pivot pretty smoothly and quickly, despite I'm sure what have appeared to be challenges that we're all facing during the pandemic. Would you be willing to talk about kind of the role and benefits of partnering with international organizations such as NDI in your work? I: When I started Fundación Iguales, I was very privileged to know that working with international organizations like NDI was essential. I lived almost eight years in Washington, D.C., And before that I studied in New York City, and I worked for almost eight years in multilateral organizations. That experience gave me a different look to understand how, and how specifically a country like Panama, a country with so many challenges, with the lack of the government support and local support, I would say, organizations and enterprises and so on ... so for me, it was very important to know that a key part of my work was to knock some doors abroad because it's essential to boost the work that we do here. Definitely, without the help, assistance, donations and more important, the moral support of embassies and organizations like NDI, our work would have been way more difficult than what actually is. WP: As NDI, we like to partner and collaborate with our partners and recognize you as the experts and provide the technical assistance and guidance as needed. So it's good to hear that this has been beneficial for Fundación. My last question is about what's next for Fundación? I: We're very focused that we want a social change for our country in a social change for good. We want a Panama where all persons will be respected and where they can all be happy. We want Panama to join the club of countries where same sex couples can have the support and protection of the government, and more importantly, where society in general welcomes their families. We're trans persons can fully live and decide about their dreams and lives. And we're going to conquer that by strategic campaigns, with messages, with empathy. WP: Thank you, Ivan, for taking the time to speak with us. We look forward to seeing what Fundación is able to do in creating a safer and more equal space for LGBTI communities in Panama. I: Thank you, it's been a pleasure. WP: For more than 35 years, NDI has been honored to work with thousands of courageous and committed democratic activists around the world to help countries develop the institution's practices and skills necessary for democracy's success. For more information, please visit our website at www.ndi.org. You've heard about how an organization is engaging with communities and collecting stories to plan for future advocacy efforts from Fundación Iguales. But what happens when you are in the middle of a project, when things get disrupted? LGBTI communities in Romania successfully organized to prevent an amendment to the constitution that would ban same sex marriage that was put to a referendum in 2018. In the aftermath of these efforts, there was a need to establish priorities moving forward and create space for dialogue within the community about the next steps for the overall movement. Mosaic organized different segments of the LGBTI community, including transgender communities, LGBTI, Roma, women, and older people to build consensus around an advocacy agenda moving forward. In the midst of these community outreach efforts, COVID-19 happened. Vlad Viski, executive director of MosaiQ is with us. Vlad, thanks for joining us. Vlad Viski: Thank you for having me. WP: Can you tell us a little bit more about your project? VV: Between 2015 and 2018, in Romania, there was a national campaign to change the constitution and ban gay marriages, initiatives which were supported by conservative groups and a large share of the political party. For three years, in Romania, society has been talking, probably for the first time in a very serious manner, about LGBTI rights, about the place for the LGBT community in society. This conservative effort ended with a failure at the polls for the referendum to change the constitution, only 20% of Romanians actually casting the vote for this issue when the minimum threshold of votation, of turnout, was 30%. This was possible with quite a successful campaign coming not from not only from MosaiQ but from other LGBTI organizations in Romania throughout the country. We all kind of went on the boycott strategy, we're actually asking people to boycott the referendum because human rights cannot be subject to a popular vote. Once the referendum in 2018 failed in Romania, there was a question in the community. What should we do next? How should our agenda look like for the next couple of years? We at Mosaic, we really tried to focus and we really thought the issue of intersectionality as being extremely important. This is how the idea of this project started, Engage and Empower was the name of the project. It focused on six groups within the LGBT community: transgender people, LBTQ women, elderly, people living with HIV, Roma LGBT people, and sex workers. WP: Could you talk a little bit more about how the organization is trying to maintain momentum in this community building efforts, despite what's going on with the pandemic? VV: We at MosaiQ, we had to reimagine some of the projects that we were involved in, so that included canceling events or postponing them or rescheduling for the fall. But the problem is also that we don't really know the timeline for this story or when it will end. We've had issues related to personal issues of people in the community. People living with HIV were not getting their treatment due to the fact that hospitals were closed except for the coronavirus. Then we've had issues related to sex workers not being able to work anymore. The issue of poverty has been quite an important issue. A lot of people have been laid off, a lot of people were not able to pay rent, a lot of people were either in unemployment benefits, and so on. At the personal level for us and as an organization, all of a sudden we got a lot more messages from people asking for help. We've tried to help them on a case by case basis. We are not a social health kind of organization, but we've tried to fix as many problems as we were able to. Then throughout this, and actually talking about issue of intersectionality and the issue of the project and the way we work with the Roma LGBT community, what we've witnessed throughout this pandemic and the lockdowns, especially, was an increase in violence, against Roma people from the police. So together with colleagues from civil society, especially Roma groups, we had to monitor hate speech in the media, monitor cases of abuse and violence from the police, and also make statements and letters to official institution, to the president and the prime minister and so on. So for us, it was an issue of also solidarity with other groups affected by the pandemic. WP: I believe that you've had to move some of your activities online, correct? VV: That was another part, which we kind of tried to make the best out of the situation. We felt that there were a lot of young kids, for example, who, because schools were closed, they had to go back and live with their homophobic parents. A lot of organizations, LGBT organizations in Romania were not able to have the Zoom meetings with their volunteers because they were living with homophobic or transphobic parents so they could not reveal what they were doing or who they were talking to. So the issue of depression and psychological pressure that comes on people being locked down, people trying to survive throughout this pandemic, we decided to have a campaign online, which was called MosaiQ Quarantine, and that included parties online in order to support queer artists who were not able to earn any money because there were no gigs. We organized these online parties and we paid them and we supported their work. Then we had the zoom talks with, or like talks online, with all of the organizations and groups in Romania, LGBT groups, to kind of better see the situation on the ground in different cities in Romania. That was for us extremely important because we felt like there was a need to have this dialogue within the community. Then we had the all sorts of posts on social media and different kinds of events. We also talked with organizations from the region, from the US, from Moldova, from Russia, to kind of see what the feeling also over there. So for us, it was quite an exercise to take advantage of the fact that using social media and using online tools, we were able to reach out to people who otherwise would not have been able to participate in our events, being so far away. WP: It sounds like Mosaic has certainly stepped up to the challenges. Could you just briefly talk about what NDI support has meant to Mosaic? VV: I think the project funded by NDI was extremely important, both for the community ... right now, we have an active Roma LGBT group. We have all of these, the issue of intersectionality being put on the agenda. We have the [inaudible 00:19:36] sports, which is a sports club run by women who is also trying to grow based also on the support that Mosaic has offered through NDI. We've had, at the Pride last season, the first Roma LGBT contingent putting the issue on the agenda. So for us, in many regards, this project kind of focused us more on this intersectional approach to activism and the need to include all voices within the community. The trust that they had in us was very important. WP: I'm glad to hear that it's been a fruitful partnership, both for NDI and Mosaic. Vlad, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. VV: Oh, that's it. WP: We'll be back after this short message. To hear more from democracy heroes and why inclusion is critical to democracy, listen to our DemWorks podcast, available on iTunes and SoundCloud. Before the break we heard from two partners using digital platforms to create and support communities. But how are groups sustaining their online networks and communities once created? Rainbow Rights trained paralegals in the Philippines on legal issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity and how to support LGBTI communities. Through Google Classroom, these paralegals formed an online network to help communities facing discrimination and violence. Eljay, welcome to our podcast. Could you tell us a little bit more about the paralegal support project? Eljay: Yeah. One of the main components of our community paralegal program is to create a national online platform wherein all of the trained paralegals of our organization will be able to share their experiences, their cases, and they could also refer some of the difficult cases to us. So that's the main idea. It's just that it gained a deeper significance in this COVID-19 pandemic that we're experiencing because a lot of legal organizations hurried to do to do what we had been doing in the past year, which is to create an online platform. Right now, even though there's a lot of problems in the Philippines barring the central autocracy, we have been maintaining the platform. People are still referring cases to us and we are working on those cases. Part of the deeper significance that it has is in the Philippines, human rights violations have increased because of the lockdown. So it became a source of reporting documentation for these human rights violations during the lockdown. We did not expect that it will evolve that way but we're happy that it has, and despite some connectivity issues in the Philippines, it has been reaping as well. WP: So when you're talking about the program, there've been increased human rights reports, is that generally more broad human rights abuses? Or are we talking specifically to the LGBTI community? E: Yeah, we accept every report on numerous violations, but we take on the LGBTI human rights violations specifically. When we receive human rights violations that is not really in our lane, so to speak, we refer them to bigger organizations. We have seen increased numerous violation against the LGBTQI community here. WP: You had mentioned that Rainbow Rights fortunately had organized the training for the paralegals before the pandemic hit and already have a plan in place to use online platforms, which was Google Classroom, to create this network across the country. You've briefly referenced what the current situation is like now, but could you go a little deeper into that? What kind of challenges is Rainbow Rights facing in continuing to engage with the community? E: As I have mentioned, maybe a bigger challenge is the connectivity issues in the Philippines. We don't have good internet here, and that's a challenge. It's also challenged to keep the interest level of our paralegals and keep them engaged. That is also challenged because they have bigger problems now. Because of the pandemic, they're thinking of their health, they're thinking of their livelihoods, and that is a challenge during these times. However, before the pandemic, we also saw that we had to be creative at the level of interest, so that's a challenge. The situation, it's working. Overall situation's working. We have referrals, we continue to share modules in our platform, refreshing their memory on the training. We also try to be light. There are some light moments so that they be so that they keep themselves also, the interest level is high and that they see us and they trust us in maintaining this platform. WP: You alluded to the fact that it's often difficult to maintain interest of your paralegals when engaging online. E: Basically, we had a two-pronged approach on this. One is to find the people who has a genuine interest to serve the community. So in our selection process, we have chosen people who have track records of service in their communities. The other side of the approach is to build on the spirit of camaraderie, friendship, and community solidarity between us. So even before the pandemic, we have been setting up calls and checking on them, even adding them on Facebook and Twitter just to continually engage with them. I think that's a big part of our strategies. We're also looking to ... I think in my personal view, I think a lot of what they do is labor, so I think in the future, we will be able to compensate them for their efforts in their community and we're looking into that as well. WP: That's really interesting. Could you speak a little bit more to the role and benefits of partnering with international organizations such as NDI in your work and as well as helping to sustain this national network? E: Yeah. I think it's invaluable. Foreign support, foreign funding support such as the NDI had been really great for us. We have been envisioning this project for a long time and NDI gave us the opportunity to really implement it. They also gave us a level of freedom in how to execute the program because there's a recognition that we in the ground know how to solve our problems. But there's also a lot of technical support aside from the funding. Like in digital security, NDI has given us a lot of resources, even given us a training for this and how to secure our online platforms. They also provided a lot of coalition building resources. So there, and I think we are also sharing what our experience with NDI to our other funders, because I think with NDI, we had a lot of freedom and we had a lot of support because you guys always check on us, so that's great. WP: Well, I'm glad to hear that NDI is taking care of our partners. Thinking about how June is Pride Month for a lot of communities around the world, and Pride is often equated to the community of LGBTI people around the world how would you say Rainbow Rights efforts have contributed to strengthening the community in the light of the violence and the discrimination that LGBTI people face on a daily basis in the Philippines? E: Since 2005, Rainbow Rights has been doing this approach wherein we come ... a top down approach at the policy level, but we also complement it with from the grassroots, bottom up approach. We make sure that whatever we bring at the policy level, it is informed by our grassroots services. I think that's one of our biggest contribution, is to really complement policy with experience on the ground. Most of the policies that we've pushed for is really coming from what our experiences and what are the real needs of the people that we serve in the communities. I think that's one of our biggest contributions in our approach. We're not just the legal, we don't just bring cases to court. We don't just bring legal expertise, but we also inform it with community level approaches and grassroots approaches. WP: Well, thank you LJ again for taking the time to speak with us and telling us a little bit more about how Rainbow Rights is contributing to a holistic support system to the LGBTI community in the Philippines. E: Thank you so much for this opportunity. WP: Thank you to Ivan, Vlad, and Eljay for sharing their experiences and for the work you're doing to advance LGBTI equality and inclusion, and thank you to our listeners. To learn more about NDI or to listen to other DemWorks podcasts, please visit us at ndi.org
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I woke up in the middle of the night because I am old and I ate and drank too much. I couldn't resist schnitzel and strudel as I am in Vienna for a talk and for some other shenanigans (more on that in another post). And then I saw Phil Lagassé's post on the Conservatives and if they might spend on defence if elected. On that general topic, I am a skeptic as I think the CPC cares more about deficits than about defence, and the place to cut the budget is, alas, defence. That is where the money is. This was true under Harper. I don't know what Pierre Poilevre believes in, other than opportunism and pandering to the far right, but I don't think he will commit lots of money to get Canada to 2% of GDP (on the other hand, he could tank the economy, and that is the other way to get there). Oh, and to be clear, I think we need to spend significantly more on the military--I am just not going to threat inflate to get us there.Anyway, Phil said in his piece that we need to spend more to deal with the threat in the Arctic, and I had to scoff. Which led to a fun exchange in bluesky, reminiscent of the old days on twitter where we would argue and people thought we hated each other. Hint: I don't co-author with people I don't like. Ir don't co-author with the same person several times unless we get along very well. But it is both fun and educational to push back against one of the very sharpest defence minds in Canada.Specifically, Phil said: "Canadians know their Arctic is vulnerable." And my ensuing commentary focused on that: what exactly is the threat to Canada from on high? And should we consider this the most significant/dangerous threat? My point is that it is way back in line. Phil says we need to have better situational awareness up north. My rejoinder is: no invasion coming, just some spy ships on the water and below it. Others chimed in: more ships going through the northwest passage means more environmental stuff could go awry. And, I agree. But where does that line up in the threat picture? Here's my cranky, awakened with acid in my throat, ranking of the threats facing Canada. Climate change: Canadians are paying a high price for the changing climate even if we could joke about being a beneficiary as our winters get mostly shorter. Milder? Variance is more certain than anything else. Anyhow, people are dying in floods and fires, much property is being destroyed. When I speak of threat, I think of real harms to Canadians, to the economy, to governance. Climate change is first and it is not close. I was mocked by someone via email when I said this on TV, but I have never been a super lefty, green environmentalist type in my work. It is just the reality that in dollar amounts and in lives, the warming planet is harming Canadians in a big way and it is only going to get worse. A recurring theme is that many of the threats either cannot or will not have the military as the lead agency. This actually comes the closest given that the provinces underinvest in emergency management, knowing that the military will act if asked and won't present a bill.Pandemics: how many people were killed by covid in Canada? Nearly 60,000, which is more than Canadians killed in all foreign wars combined if one leaves out WWI. Plus many people now have long covid. It did a heap of damage to the economy, and, if you care about deficits (I don't really), guess what blew a big hole in the budget? I am very glad the Liberal government poured a ton of money into the economy as we didn't have runs on food banks during the height of the pandemic. I just wish Conservative-led provinces actually spent the money allotted to health care on.... health care. Will covid be the last pandemic? No. Indeed, given what it has done to attitudes about vaccinations, quarantines, and masking, I doubt we will respond as well next time. Scary, eh? The military was called out because other agencies lacked capacity, but this was really a medical/scientific thing, so let's not allocate a ton of money to the military for pandemic preparedness.Cyber attacks. Wars are distant, but cyber attacks are hitting Canadians every day, disrupting people's lives, hurting various businesses and public agencies, and pose a significant threat where some country could bring down our power or harm dams and more. Is this the military's job? Partially but not really. We don't need people who are trained to fire weapons and ready to deploy abroad and all that stuff to fight a cyber war. We need smart folks at well equipped desks. We definitely need to have more money spent on the military to survive and thrive in a cyberwar environment, but the CAF is not really our answer to thwarting cyber attacks against the Canadian public.Far right violence. We live in a time of increasing attacks by xenophobes, misogynists, homophobes, racists, anti-semities, Islamophobes, and white supremacists (these hates tend to travel together). Yes, left wing extremists can have many of these attributes, but it is clear that the violence is almost entirely coming from the far right. These haters are doing real harm to Canadians right now, and the trend is in the wrong direction. Can the military do anything about this? I think the general rule of not having the military police the public is a very good idea. Instead, the military's role is mostly to make sure it is not training the next generation of far right terrorists. Disinformation. This is, of course, related to the prior one, but it also involves foreign actors who are trying to tilt election outcomes. We are increasingly living in a time where people can't trust what they see and hear, or they are trusting the wrong actors. This leads to develop dangerous beliefs--like vaccines are poisonous, that the government in power is engaging in great, deliberate harm against its ideological opponents, and so forth, While the Liberals have screwed up many things, they need some trust in government to operate on our behalf, just as the Conservatives or NDP would need people to trust in institutions. The military should not be the primary actor at home on this either even as they engage in info ops abroad.People might I was joking about the increases in truck/SUV size being a threat, but more than 2000 people died in car accidents in 2023, and the trend is going up, even if one cuts the peak covid years from the dataset.North Korean missiles. While China and Russia have nuclear missiles, I have a bit more faith in the workings of deterrence and a bit less worried about accidental/deliberate first use. North Korea would not have any reason to attack Canada, but I could imagine that their aim might be that good. Of course, what is the CAF's role in this? Providing warning that Vancouver is doomed and then helping to respond to the aftermath. We have no defences against ballistic missiles nor will Canada have any such systems anytime in the future. I am a skeptic about American strategic defense (although tactical anti-missile systems seem to range from pretty good to amazing), but I do think Canada should join the US system as the ABM treaty is very dead. This is a military job and would justify the massive investment in NORAD modernization. Otherwise, it really is a system to warn us to give us a few minutes to kiss our loved ones goodbye. Oh, and manage relations with the US.US relations! The Canadian economy and its security crucially depend on the US, and, oh my, Canada will be so very, very fucked if Trump were to win. Democracies have lived beside authoritarian regimes before (hey, Finland!), but so much of Canada's position in the world relies on this huge market and this peaceful border and cooperation with the US. When was the last time Canada fought abroad without the US beside its side? UN missions? Guess again as the UN relies heavily on American support to do its ops. One could argue this would mean less wars for Canada--no more Afghanistans (which was purely to help its ally). But Canada would be even at greater risk of being bullied by the China's and Saudi Arabia's of the world. And, of course, by Trump himself. But again, this is not the CAF's job to prevent or mitigate this. If Trump is elected, most of the problems above get worse and this item zooms to the top.Maybe here goes: incomplete understanding of what is happening in the Arctic. Yes, that stuff up north is still Canada, but the threat to Canadians up there is not really that posed by Russia or China but by the lack of infrastructure and by the aforementioned climate change, pandemics, etc.So, if the military is not needed for this stuff, or only needed for domestic emergency ops, why spend tens of billions on it? Why increase spending? It comes down to this: the military is an instrument of policy. This means that it can and is used to further Canadian government objectives even if most of those objectives are not about thwarting threats to Canada. Canada has consistent interests in the world for which the CAF is a key tool, such as helping to foster stability in Europe and Asia. Canada, like the US, has learned that when those continents catch fire, it damages Canadian interests and hurts Canadians. A war in the South China Sea with or without the Canadian navy would be catastrophic to the Canadian economy. War west of Ukraine would also be quite damaging. NATO itself is an important interest that requires the Canadian military to invest in itself and in NATO missions. Ultimately, Canadians want to do good in the world and want to support the international order, whether we call it liberal or rules-based or American hegemony or whatever. Because we understand that Canadians have more influence within institutions than outside of them, that the rules have favored the Canadian economy, and helped the Canadian people to enjoy the fruits of international cooperation.Ultimately, one wants a well armed, well trained, well staffed military to prepare for the worst. In my ranking of threats, I focused on both likelihood of the threat being realized and the amount of harm that is likely if the threat happens. Climate change is at the top because it is happening and is not going away and is going to do heaps of damage. The threat in the Arctic is lower down because it is unlike that any foreign actor will attack that way and the damage they can do is not that great, again compared to everything else.Oh, and what is also a threat? Having an under-funded, unprepared, ill-equipped military sent off to war--that way lies tragedy. So, yes, spend more, but let's not exaggerate where the threats are coming from and what the role of the military is.
This report is the result of a World Bank mission that visited Paraguay in June 2013 at the request of the Government of Paraguay. The mission's objective was to identify, quantify, and prioritize agriculture risks that determine the volatility of agriculture gross domestic product (GDP), based on a methodology to assess sector risks developed by the World Bank. The methodology stipulates a two-phase process. The first phase (risk evaluation), which is in volume one of this report, was reviewed by the government and evaluates the current situation and perspective of agriculture sector risks, starting from the standpoint of supply chains. From here, and based on the identification of the most important risks, given their frequency and severity, a list of possible solutions was produced in addition to the existing public and private programs and policies. This process is completed with a second phase, where an action plan was prepared (volume two) that can be executed in the medium term to reduce sector risks and to contribute to the sustainability of agriculture investments. The significant efforts undertaken by the government to maintain support programs in critical production and trade areas of the sector are recognized, as well as the institutional development to strengthen the response capacity to agriculture risks. Chapter one gives introduction. Chapter two presents information about the agriculture sector and its recent performance is included, allowing to determine the most important supply chains for this risk assessment and to place the relative economic and social importance of the various commodities and production methods in the appropriate context. In chapter three, a comprehensive assessment of production, market, and enabling environment risks is undertaken for the main commercial and family farming supply chains, in addition to livestock. Chapter four shows the repercussions that risks have had in the past, in particular aggregated losses incurred by supply chain actors. Chapter five assesses the impacts of these losses throughout the supply chains and explores the relative vulnerability of the different actors. Chapter six presents the results and ranking of risks, a list of possible solutions jointly with different public initiatives where some identified risks are addressed.
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Throughout 2023,I kept being sarcastic about being post-pandemic, knowing that COVID was still a major problem, even as we stopped acting as if it was. And then, of course, I got it the last week of the year. The year started with COVID--my wife and her family got it when she went down to help her mother when she was hospitalized--as well, so it was a strange year of acting like it was not a thing while it was very much a thing. Since I am not going to be productive today due to my current bout, I thought I would post about the year so that I could remember now and down the road the non-covid-y parts to the year. I can't help but start with the longest stretch of single-dom since college. Mrs. Spew first went to help her hospitalized mother, but that became a three month or so effort to get my MIL moved out of a four floor townhouse and into a senior apartments facility. What did I do as a single dude for three months? Mostly plot and scheme about the kitchen renovation. While Mrs. Spew was back for the demolition and renovation, all of the decisions were made while she was away. I did consult via texted pics of counter tops and the like, but as she put it, since I do most of the cooking, it was up to me for most of it. And it worked out great. I had two great ski trips to Banff, one with a friend's family and an anniversary trip sans my wife. Instead, my sister and my daughter joined me. The most notable part of the first trip was that I did a face plant on a relatively flat part of Lake Louise, proving that my new goggles are tough and leading to my first visit to the Ski Patrol hut for a bandaid. It was the first time I skied with my daughter in quite some time. I had skied with my sister the previous year as she was re-learning the sport. In 2023, she was much improved and kept up with me nicely. The Minister of National Defence, Anita Anand, once again visited my Civ-Mil class by zoom. This was the second, and, alas, last time, she did that as she got shuffled to a different ministry over the summer. Last year, it was a last minute thing. This year, I had the chance to prompt the students to ask civ-mil questions as opposed to just big IR questions, and it went really well. A highlight of the year was going to Florida for my cousin's daughter's Bar Mitzvah. One of the patterns of the year was bad chair dancing--the guys holding up the various victims here and at other events tended to tilt the chairs forward. They did better with Samantha than with her sister. We got to spend the next day at my cousin's house, including their gator-proximate pool. I hadn't had a chance to play with all four of my cousins' kids at the same time in quite a while, and it was my first time using my old kid-pool skills in sometime. It was probably appropriate that it was in Florida since 2023 was the 40th anniversary of my family living in Miami--just for one year, but I spent a lot of that year in the pool we had.Speaking of blasts from the past, I went to my first rock concert in ... decades? Journey came to Ottawa, and since their music was a big part of my teen soundtrack, I got a ticket and went. No Steve Perry although his replacement sounded good and had lots of energy. But still a good show. It reminded me why I don't go to concerts--I just don't find watching people make music all that interesting. I have always enjoyed going to conferences, and this year's ISA was far more normal than last year's. The previous year was underattended and held in a strange resort in Nashville. 2023's was held in Montreal, a very familiar locale, and most of the folks I like to see at these things were there. Two highlights were the Presidential speech and an award panel. I always blow off the Presidential speech except when the President is a friend. Debbi Avant, who started at UCSD a few years before me, has always impressed me with her sharp insights about international relations, and her speech was Debbi at her finest. The other highlight, also UCSD related, was the lifetime achievement panel for Miles Kahler, my supervisor way back when. He bristled at the attention a bit about all of this fuss, but it was great to see so much appreciation for his work and for his Miles-ness. He is retiring... for the second time and I think this one will stick. So, it was great to see him get all of the love and appreciation. As I get closer to retirement myself, with two of my friends retiring this year (mine is still about eight years away), I am more committed to telling people how much they have meant to me. Losing a few friends during the pandemic also is compelling me to make clear to folks how much I appreciate them. There are few people in this business who supported me and shaped my views than these two, so it was great to see them both celebrated.I joke often about the military-industrial-academic complex, and this year, I got to experience it pretty directly. Well, the first two parts--there were not many academics nor anything academic going on at CANSEC--the annual show for defence contractors. The big surprise was not so much how much room the biggest contractors took up but the range of stuff being presented there--from artillery and ammo to drones to uniforms to cables to medical stuff and on and on. Note in this pic that the firm was promoting gear for pregnant soldiers. I have rarely gone to the graduation ceremonies, but with one of my PhDs graduating and having finally purchased a spiffy cap and gown, it was time to go. Marshall finished his dissertation in record time, and he didn't cut any corners along the way--it was an award-winning project. Of all the students I supervised, his work required the fewest comments, so much so that I felt guilty. I am just glad I don't have the action shot of me messing up his hooding since he is so very tall. June was also a month of much travel. First, a DND-organized trip to Riga to chat with NATO folks, Canada's contingent, the Latvian defence folks, and the Strategic Communications conference. I learned a lot, had a fair amount of excellent beer, and even hung out with the kids from the NATO Field School--an effort run by CDSN Co-Director Alex Moens to teach undergrads and newly graduated folks about NATO. It was my second time to Riga and my second time to the base where the Canadians are operating. Going with this group meant more high level briefings, more sharp questions asked by my colleagues that I would not have thought to ask, and, yeah, more beer.The highlight of the year was the delayed anniversary trip with my wife to Spain. I had a conference in Barcelona, so we flew into Madrid and then drove throughout hot southern Spain: Toledo, Cordoba, Seville, Granada, and Ronda. My fave was Toledo despite the scariest extended driving experience of my life--the old city streets were so very narrow the proximity alarms in my rental car were going off--all of them. Along the way, we learned a lot of history, saw some amazing art and architecture, ate really well, and had a lot of sangria.Did I mention it was hot? Cordoba was probably our second favorite place although Granada was also pretty amazing. And Ronda had the best tapas in a random bar. Oh, and Barcelona is just terrific.Great view of Alhambra in Granada with excellent food. Ronda has a bridge over a beautiful gorge. It also has an historic bullring. Seville was also pretty terrific. Just an amazing trip.The summer family vacation was once again in Philly since my mother can't travel much. We found new and old things to do. I had not realized my older sister is so sharp at scrabble--a shark! I dominated the axe throwing until the final throws, where Mrs. Spew took the crown! My sabbatical started in July, and Dave and Phil and I managed to finish our book and submit it in the fall. Glossy picture of book cover? Not yet. Still need to get the reviews and past the editorial board. As Tom Petty said, the waiting is the hardest part. Actually, in this case, the writing was the hardest part.The fall was also marked by something I had never experienced before: being the subject of an op-ed. I had written more than a few, but to have someone else dedicate an entire piece to moi? Oh my. The background is: in the fall of 2022, a retired general, Michel Maisonneuve was given an award by a veteran's association and used that speech to blast pretty much everyone. I blogged about it since I found it to be very problematic. When I heard that he was going to appear at the Conservative Party convention, I wrote an op-ed arguing that this was a dangerous politicization of the Canadian military. Maisonneuve responded by targeting me, a dual citizen, gasp, in his op-ed. It was all very strange to be on the other side of an op-ed, especially one filled with ad hominens and straw men. But I guess this means I am an influencer?The APSA was strange due to a hotel strike, but I had to go as LA is where my daughter lives. So, I had a good time conferencing and a better time hanging out with her. The poker game was a bit different as we used a big table in the lobby (my room was way too small). We were not as rowdy as the table nearby, so it was all good. I also drove with Mrs. Spew on Mulholland Drive for as far as we could--got lots of great looks at LA and the valley. Jon cleaned up better than I did.Yet more travel as I went to DC with Mrs. Spew for a civ-mil conference and ... the 100th anniversary of the summer camp that was so important to me growing up. The conference was terrific--I hadn't been to this specific one before--the Inter-university Seminar on Armed Forces and Society. Definitely going back since it is chock full of smart, sweet folks working on fascinating stuff. The anniversary gala happened to be the same weekend so I drove up to Baltimore and had a blast seeing old friends and meeting other folks who had similar experiences out in the hinterlands of Maryland.I should note that we had a great CDSN year--each of our events went really well, and we feel we are making a difference. I am so grateful for the team that does all of the heavy lifting. And at one event, they let us use the patio! The people, the location, the season all make this one quite special. The Meeting of the MINDS event, where we brought together the nine networks funded by DND plus DND's Policy group, was a terrific opportunity to learn what the other networks are doing, what has been working for them, and also what DND wants from us. Our Year Ahead event addressed timely issues: how to respond to China's aggression, what the 2024 US election campaign will do to incite extremism, evacuations from conflict zones, and taking a look at the Balkans. And it was in a funky new location for us. It even had a slide!The aforementioned conference in DC kicked off a series of trips that is not going to stop until May of 2024. I went to Seoul to research their civ-mil for the next book--what role do defence agencies think they have? I learned a lot in those two weeks--still trying to figure that case out--and had a good time seeing more of Korea, including Busan. Busan had the most beautifully located temple as well as the memorial for UN troops who died in the Korean war.I went directly from Seoul to Copenhagen for a different civ-mil conference. I had been there a couple of times before, but hadn't seen their war museum, their art museum or their Christmas markets. The latter showed me that Zurich's smelly gluhwein is not representative of mulled wine, so I had some of that and then made some over winterfest. Those trips then lead to a quick trip to Toronto for a workshop and then Thanskgiving with the Saideman folks. Much food was made and consumed. The highlight of this week was Milo, my niece's dog. Super sweet. Oh and seeing my daughter.Since my sister had crashed my anniversary ski trip, I felt it was only fair to crash her ski clinic at Alta. I had been there about 22 years ago on a Saideman family vacation (my segment, from Lubbock, arrived a day or two late thanks to snow removal challenges in Texas). I am a much better skier now thanks to all the skiing near Montreal and now my habit of hitting the Canadian rockies on a regular basis. So, it was fun to see how much more of the place I could do with confidence. The skies each day were so clear and blue. Just amazing views at all times. I came home from Alta to deliver cookies near and far. Each year, I make more (the new kitchen definitely helped), and each year, more people join my nice list. So, I spent two days driving around Ottawa seeing folks and giving bits of sweet joy. This started in the first winter of the pandemic when this was the first chance to interact with people in person since the start of the quarantine. It is a great way to end the year--eating sweets and sharing them. And meeting a few dogs along the way.We ended the year as usual--in the greater DC area--to celebrate winterfest with my wife's family. Since my mother-in-law no longer has a townhouse, we had to rent an airbnb near her retirement facility. Which meant we hosted the festivities--first time our family had anything to do with a tree in a couple of decades. I have been making the big dinner for the past few years, so that was not so different. It was great to see these folks--twice this year for me as I saw most of them in October when I was in the area for the IUS conference. A drink mydaughter gotmy spectacular sister-in-law LizI hope you had a great 2023, and you have a happy new year. I will be on the road for most of the first half of the year, so many more pics of fun places and good food. Oh, and some research.
Agriculture is among the most risk-prone sectors in the economies of Central Asia. Production shocks from weather, pests and diseases and adverse movements in agricultural product and input prices not only impact farmers and agri-business firms, but can also strain government finances. Some of these risks are small and localized and can be managed by producers. Others are the result of more severe, exogenous shocks outside agriculture that require a broader response. Failure to respond adequately to these more severe risks leads to a perpetual cycle of 'shock-recovery-shock' which reinforces poverty traps and compromises long-term growth. A broad-based program to improve livestock productivity is recommended to strengthen the resilience of livestock production systems and rangeland use in Kazakhstan. Proposed interventions include measures to: (i) reverse degradation of water, soil and vegetation cover; (ii) safeguard the long-term viability of rangeland ecosystems, while ensuring sustainable access to grazing land; and (iii) strengthen livestock services (veterinary, animal health, feed and fodder supply, destocking, water and grazing access, and weather and market information). These measures will enable farmers to manage their resources better, to respond to climate and market signals and to protect their resource base in times of drought. The recommendations developed under these three solution areas continue the underlying emphasis on mitigation as the foundation for risk management. They also highlight the mutually reinforcing benefits of measures to improve crop and livestock productivity for both risk management and sector growth.