The whole world is drifting away from F2F “Face to Face” and direct H2H “Human to Human” communication or more precisely H2H communication as based on F2F communication, talks, analogue and paper-based interactions are being transformed to more effective, optimized, fact-based and regulated H2H communication through digitalized data, information and interactions. Even if we may experience F2F and H2H communication are becoming less and less intensive as it has been they are still everywhere in our daily life but is moving towards a totally new version, form or fashion through the Internet as a medium to transfer and connect all forms digitalized data, information and interactions where M2M “Machine to Machine”, M2H “Machine to Human” and H2M “Human to Machine” are still products of the H2H interaction and communications. All these revolutionary changes are due to enormous and tectonic advances in IOT and ICT by being able to handle wide-variety of multi-layered processing, production, consumption and subscription-based businesses, trade and industries as well as to mediate all H2H intervention and communication in such chains. H2H is the essence core of socio-economic development in all previous civilizations and still for all societies and for generations to come but the digitalized world has changed and still changing the rules of the game in human interactions and communications. 

In the modern era of IOT “Internet of Things” H2H communication is taking  different paths and tectonic tracks by using the Internet as ultra- and super-rapid instrument to connect everything in our world 24/7/365 on all levels. The IOT  and ICT “Information Communication Technology” benefit from searching, compiling, optimizing and communicating all existing and available data and information. But to be part of this revolution you have to be seen continuously in the Internet and also all your activities in any form has to be digitalized and connnected to the Internet in a way or another. The IOT and ICT will move forward, advance and progress more and more in compilation, coordination and optimization of data and information. At the moment we are in a State of Innovation on many levels and much more will come. IOT and ICT are far beyond our imagination as it will put and run our entire globe as totally new engines and reactors of interactions where the innovation is among key issues in all trans-disciplinary and trans-sectorial domains. This will generate trillions of dollars in turnover on the global scales as it is an imperative process where the growing population around the world by 2050-2100 can benefit from such transformation to more effective H2H communication through sensor and transducers as digital mediators in M2M, M2H and H2M interactions.  A life-style where IOT and ICT will be moving more and more away from traditional and convential H2H communication and interactions. Future jobs, employment, trade and businesses will follow such trends. 

Here is a debate activity in the MENA Region in the Telecom Review Magazine that Launched an event on “Human to Human” (H2H) Initiative during its Summit “The Human Side of Telecom”.

http://www.telecomreview.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=925:telecom-review-magazine-launches-%E2%80%9Chuman-to-human%E2%80%9D-h2h-initiative-during-its-summit-%E2%80%9Cthe-human-side-of-telecom%E2%80%9D&Itemid=718

Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma gives his views on Donald Trump’s attack on China which is according to him (President Trump) stealing jobs from USA and undermining the economy of the USA. It is interesting to hear the comments of Jack Ma. 

Concerning creation of jobs Mr. Ma says ‘If trade stops, war starts’ and he warns after his visit to Donald Trump ‘The world needs globalisation, it needs trade’.

Follow the story here: https://youtu.be/lpgYym4L4Cw

Today the USA and the rest of the world is turning page and shifting to new realities as outcome of the USA Presidential 2016-elections. The new realities are indeed no more than facing and tackling a mixture of old, current and future problems to move forward and deal with economically acceptable solutions for poverty and unemployment as well as restoration, development and the renewable of a wide-range of basic infra-structures. While at the same time coping with other equally important emerging challenges of much more global character, i.e. those arising from climate and environmental changes, also the implementation of UN-SDGs. Economic issues are always, and remain to be, important variables in solving such difficult and complex socio-economic equations. The UN-SDGs which involve climate and global change issues have no clear and well-structured implementation agenda, i.e. who will do what, how and when and above all how the outcome of the implementation will be monitored with follow up programs that assure transperancy and accountability contra the necessary investments and the financial obligations involved. It is much easier to assess the outcome of national socio-economic developments rather than to do the same on global and international scales.  

Though the changing reality may be experienced as unusual and dramatic, it is yet forcing enormous tectonic changes in particular the formulation of mutual global relations between the developed and developing countries. Reality is far more complex than any existing socio-economic model, as models by nature are much simplified version of reality that can never replace the reality. The world as a whole is facing a new complex reality of the post-industrial and post-computer era where the Internet, automation and modern ICT are outphasing many classical and traditional solutions what regards labor and machinery on the one side and the market and trade on the other. Classical political systems around the world are not yet updated to deal with existing new realities as experienced by the changes in Europe “Brexit” and the USA “President Trump”, globalisation, free-trade, UN-SDGs, also developments arising from the post Iraq-war. All these issues combined are reshaping the global socio-economic developments. We need to ask ourselves “what can we do for the world as it may not be clear for everyone what the world will do, and can do, for us”. The existing global situation is just a reminder that the socio-economic systems around the world, including the UN, are not the optimum solutions but rather part of the existing challenges. In a much opened, IT-based society with rapid and intensive flow of information, the challenges are shifting more and more to individual to take part in shaping everyday life.

According to Nature Index, Saudi Arabia had the largest growth in the MENA region in 2015 in the production of high-quality research tracked by the Nature Index thus propelling the country into a leading position. Its strong and fruitful collaborations with international powerhouses have been integral to the country’s rapid rise and it now has its sights firmly set on becoming a global player in science.

https://www.natureindex.com/supplements/nature-index-2016-saudi-arabia/index#ni-articles

Algeria with the second largest economic resources in the MENA region after Saudi Arabia, because of its oil and gas reserves,  might be facing a crisis in biodiversity. According to a recent report from the Algerian Ministry of Planning and Environment 51–66% of its plants and animals are endangered by human activities and changes in natural habitat. The report blames a booming human population and unsustainable development programmes for the biodiversity crisis in Algeria. Also, “illegal fishing and overgrazing are the largest threats posed to biodiversity in Algeria” said Wael Al-Zeraey, an environmentalist at Djillali Liabes University of Sidi Bel Abbes, Algeria. Forest fires are contributing to desertification. Pumping of untreated industrial waste into the sea threatens coastal life, he adds. Algeria is home to 107 different types of mammals, but 47 of these are endangered, such as the Barbary stag and the Barbary leopard. It is also home to more than 1,000 endangered plants, 100 of which are endemic to North Africa.

The climatic conditions of Algeria with very different weather conditions ranging from the coastal regions to forests, oases, Atlas Mountains and deserts have provided the country with rich, unique and diverse biodiversity. However, according to Nadia Chenouf, director of biodiversity at the Algerian Ministry of Planning and Environment. “Each of these elements and components of Algeria’s biodiversity is unique in its own way and the dangers it faces.”
Algeria has signed several international treaties for protection of biodiversity, including Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in 1982. Algeria has ten nature reserves, covering an area of 365,165 hectares. The report stresses the importance of involving civil society in planning and managing these national assets.

There are several reasons for the ongoing degradation in biodiversity, e.g. Algerian civilwar, population growth, tourism, lack of public awareness, implementation of effective preservation and protection, also establishing large-scale and long-term minotoring and observation infra-structures. Also, limited investmentses in education and research as well as lack of regulations and conventions and insufficient policies for control.

The report recommends the ministry of education should strengthen the biological sciences and develop biosystematics, biotechnology, genetic engineering and resource. The report claims that although the government has focused on legislations and laws to protect the environment, it has not worked on actually applying them on the ground.

http://www.natureasia.com/en/nmiddleeast/article/10.1038/nmiddleeast.2011.74

If yes, why and if no how to make the life on planet Earth sustainable?

The feedback of the main two tectonic impacts of Brexit-voting in Europe (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit) and 2016 Presidential-election in the USA (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2016) on science and technology can not pass by and go unnoticed. Indeed, there are major changes in the global “economical-political” landscape with severe long-term impacts on education, science and technology. The current global “economical-political” landscape as triggered by national and regional interests, growing economical competitions around the world regarding production and use of natural resources to support the existing industries that are very much dependent on coal, oil and gas, has changed or even twisted very rapidly quite recently. The global innate force of interia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertia) to bring about any changes in the existing “economical-political” landscape has, also, caused protests and actions against any rapid shake-up and twists in labor markets, industries and trade that are dependent on coal, oil and gas. Large and huge number of sectors around the world with enormous populations of labor and man-power are very much depedent on coal, oil and gas. It is, therefore, expected that any major transformation, even with strong and logic support from science and technology, will be not be accepted by all. It is not a matter of mistrust but it is rather a matter of finding appropriate strategies to suitable transformation where the “economical-political” land-scape can be reshaped with consideration to the diverse realities as imposed by the new findings of science and technology. The three main pillars “politics, economy and science” have to come in much more stronger interactions. It is no question that science, R&D and technology (http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/633796/Science-and-Technology/) has shaped and reshaped our way of life. Shaping and reshaping societies during several centuries, in particular the past one, have resulted collectively in huge socio-economic developments worldwide which we all benefit from today. However, these  socio-economic developments were not “error-free”.  The UN-SDGs and the Paris Agreement are natural components in the evolution of science, R&D and technology towards maturity and came to mitigate what went wrong in the past. Development and evolution of “science, R&D and technology” is not by any means a linear process as they are not only subject of internal validation but they have also to be assessed and accepted by a much more diverse and wider external players within and among economical and political communities. Such assessment and acceptance is not straightforward, and do not take place overnight. Let us see these facts in much wider and global socio-economic perspective where the three pillars of “science, R&D and technology”; “politics”; and “economy” get more deeper and stronger interactions. 

http://inhabitat.com/22-nobel-prize-winners-tell-trump-that-science-must-play-a-critical-role-in-us-policy/

Each year, the World Bank Robert S. McNamara Fellowships Program awards grants of up to $25,000 for developing country, PhD candidates to conduct innovative, development-related, research under the supervision of a research advisor at a host institution abroad. The call for applications has been extended to December 14, 2016.
I am reaching out to ask for your help in sharing this information with PhD candidates in Egypt whose PhD research focuses on issues of poverty alleviation and shared prosperity in developing countries. Within this group, the World Bank is looking particularly for those PhD candidates who are currently employed by academic or research institutions in developing countries. For more information, please visit the following link:

Click to access Application_Guidelines_2017_V2_Extension.pdf

For any other queries, please email: rsm_fellowships@worldbank.org

MENA Science “MENASCI” is a Middle East North Africa Science Platform for Advancing science communication and networking. A long-awaited initiative in a very dynamic and expanding region in the world though the existing conflicts, wars and social imparities. 

At this stage the MENASCI platform is illustrating many successful science and technology fronts and advances in the region. 

A new synchrotron particle accelerator for the MENA is under construction in Jordan, for example. Synchrotron light will be used for experimental science and application in the Middle East “SESAME”.

In biodiversity there are interests to find approaches for protection of endangered species. The Arabian Leopard Panthera pardus nimr is a vulnerable and endangered subspecies that inhabits the mountains of the Arabian Peninsula. In Oman steps are taken to protect it in the mountains of Dhofar.

What concerns Global Warming, for example, hot spots in the Gulf region & Arabian Peninsula are projected to endure heatwaves challenging human survival and adaptability if the impacts of Global Warming and climate changes are left unchecked, monitored and assessed. The temperature in Mitribah, Kuwait was, for example, reported to have reached 54°C (129.2°F). If confirmed, this would be the hottest temperature recorded outside of Death Valley, California. Global Warming is predicted to continue to cause enormous threats on several scales in the whole region without exceptions because of severe aridity and water scarcity in the region. Declining groundwater and the increasing salinity in the land-water resources are typical problems. The region as a whole is becoming more and more dependent on water desalination which is very energy-demanding, not accessible and affordable in all parts of the MENA region, and it’s large-scale and long-term impacts on coastal marine regions are totally unknown. Desalinated water needs also to be supplemented with mineral additives that are being lost during the desalination-process. The very expensive desalinated water will quite soon cause major increases in costs and investments in agriculture and food production. Other viable options and solutions are urgently needed.

The MENA region is also facing modern health challenges, e.g. increase in cancer frequency and other diseases becuase of either food habits or water quality. The burden of diabetes has increased faster in low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries. Age-standardised adult diabetes prevalence in 2014 was lowest in northwestern Europe, and highest in Polynesia and Micronesia, at nearly 25%, followed by Melanesia and the Middle East and North Africa. Stroke national data Lebanon Prevalence of stroke symptoms: first national data from Lebanon. This is the first study conducted in the Middle East, assessing self-reported stroke symptoms among stroke-free residents.

Genetic research to mitigate climate change is needed as the MENA region is facing extreme weather events. Plant genetic research underpins crop production and safeguards against the impacts of alterations in weather due to climate change.

Scientific projects targeting cooperation between MENA and EU scientists are being promoted, e.g. EUROSUNMED which focuses on the potential for plentiful solar power to adapt solar technology to the region’s environment. What regards MENA-EU collaboration there are existing and emerging needs on different scales for advancing science communication and networking, capacity-building, Career-Development-Plans and Transfer-of-Knowledge to coordinate and bridge R&D, science and technology both within the MENA region and between the MENA and EU countries. 

There are growing and increasing interests in the MENA region as a whole what regards Sustainability, Mega structures and Solar Power. In particular in the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia and Morocco. At the edge of the Sahara desert in Morocco under the scorching sun lies an important mega structure harnessing an abundant source of energy. One of the largest solar projects in the world is being built in phases with a potential to provide electricity to a million people. An increasing number of new solar energy technologies are invented every year, the successful development of which depends heavily on accurate measurements of performance, reliability, and durability. Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, UAE, is a global platform that addresses the interconnected challenges that affect the widespread adoption of sustainable development and clean energy. Our world is increasingly embracing innovative solutions in order to create a sustainable future, and the Zayed Future Energy Prize is a unique platform that recognises and rewards today’s innovators for their contributions to change.

For the MENA region there are several new possibilities for supporting and funding academic and professional staff at research centers, universities and industries. EU collaboration projects and International Cooperation, e.g. EU H2020 international research, is vital in this context. Active and more strategic international cooperation will also contribute to achieving the EU’s wider policy objectives including those in the MENA region and beyond. 

There are also other funding options for the MENA region, e.g. The Middle East Science Fund. The Middle East Science Fund is an initiative to support young scientists and education in the sciences throughout the region. KAUST Funding, for example, is the mission of the Innovation & Economic Development to help maximize KAUST’s contribution to the economic diversification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its transformation to a knowledge-based economy. The Fogarty International Center support research and provides funding for Advancing Science for Global Health

For more information on Middle East and North African (MENA) Grants and Resources please visit: http://www.menasci.net/

Since more than half century ago there have been a continuous debates around the world about Global Warming: it reasons; drivers, factors and parameters behind it; validation by records by earth-based and space-based observations; model developments, tests and validations; R&D and studies on consequences, impacts; R&D and technologies for mitigation solution and alternative to promote and implement sustainable approaches around the world. The struggle by humans on earth and around the world to halt the dangers and threats of global warming is evident from the enormous amounts of TWISTING actions. A never ending argumentation in several decades caused by polarization of divisions, actors and representatives of “industrial and economic” and “social and environmental” interests.

Here a global summary why we should REACT NU:

http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/global-warming-proven-by-authoritative-scientific-evidence2/



Join sustain-earth.com to inform and get informed on the delicate balance between water and energy on planet earth 

The sign of infinity explains the tight, continuous and eternal interplay of energy-water resources on planet Earth ?. Energy production-consumption requires water AS MUCH AS water ? production-consumption requires energy. Fossil-fuel production and use ends up into waste and pollution in the atmosphere, hydrosphere and ecosphere with enormous negative ? impacts in these spheres. The energy-water loop “sign of infinity” which determines the quality and stability of all life forms on planet Earth ? is currently out of order because of the accelerating negative ? impacts of all waste and pollution. The energy-water loop “cycle” is moving faster and faster away from the natural base-line conditions drivers for the sustainable functioning and metabolism of all life processes on planet Earth ?. So, the life on planet Earth ? is moving towards total annihilation because of accelerating waste and pollution everywhere. The only way to get back into sustainable living on planet Earth ? is through clean ?water-energy loop “cycle”.

The 2016-President Elect of the USA “Donald Trump” on several occasions claimed that global warming is not real, such claim is also supported by other members of the US Republican Party. He has also announced that he is not in support of the Paris Agreement and the associated obligations for promoting and implementing action against halting the ongoing global warming and its impacts and consequences. 

The global community in Marrakech 15/11/2016 came with its call decoded where the UN sends Trump its climate demands. 190 governments agreed on what was billed as a strong message (THE MARRAKECH ACTION PROCLAMATION) of global unity on climate change – here we explain to the president-elect what it means. 

We, Heads of State, Government, and Delegations, gathered in Marrakech, on African soil, for the High-Level Segment of the 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 12th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, and the 1st Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, at the gracious invitation of His Majesty the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, issue this proclamation to signal a shift towards a new era of implementation and action on climate and sustainable development. Our climate is warming at an alarming and unprecedented rate and we have an urgent duty to respond.

We welcome the Paris Agreement, adopted under the Convention, its rapid entry into force, with its ambitious goals, its inclusive nature and its reflection of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances, and we affirm our commitment to its full implementation. Indeed, this year, we have seen extraordinary momentum on climate change worldwide, and in many multilateral fora. This momentum is irreversible – it is being driven not only by governments, but by science, business and global action of all types at all levels.

Our task now is to rapidly build on that momentum, together, moving forward purposefully to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to foster adaptation efforts, thereby benefiting and supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.

A call for highest political commitment to combat climate change, as a matter of urgent priority. We call for strong solidarity with those countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and underscore the need to support efforts aimed to enhance their adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability. We call for urgently raising ambition and strengthening cooperation amongst ourselves to close the gap between current emissions trajectories and the pathway needed to meet the long-term temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. We call for an increase in the volume, flow and access to finance for climate projects, alongside improved capacity and technology, including from developed to developing countries. We the Developed Country Parties reaffirm our USD $100 billion mobilization goal. We call for all Parties to strengthen and support efforts to eradicate poverty, ensure food security and to take stringent action to deal with climate change challenges in agriculture. We, unanimously, call for further climate action and support, well in advance of 2020, taking into account the specific needs and special circumstances of developing countries, the least developed countries and those particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.

We Parties to the Kyoto Protocol encourage the ratification of the Doha Amendment. We, collectively, call on all non-state actors to join us for immediate and ambitious action and mobilization, building on their important achievements, noting the many initiatives and the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action itself, launched in Marrakech. The transition in our economies required to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement provides a substantial positive opportunity for increased prosperity and sustainable development. The Marrakech Conference marks an important inflection point in our commitment to bring together the whole international community to tackle one of the greatest challenges of our time. As we now turn towards implementation and action, we reiterate our resolve to inspire solidarity, hope and opportunity for current and future generations.

 

The swinging political pendulum in the USA keeps the world population to move with it and continuously change direction with twists now and then. In this context, it is IMPERATIVE for us “small people” who have little, if not at all, alternatives to actively engage to know where are we going to. 

It may seem that everything depends on political shifts in the USA. However, in reality it is much more complicated as political conflicts fueled by many political sub-pendulums around the world, keep emerging and developing day in and day out. The world as it is, is restless also for the big powers as “every action brings with it an anti-action”. The roots of such conflicts and swings in world politics have been so since the WII (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II) and the cold war (http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war) and there-after. Things are even getting more more turbulent as the speed of flow of information is becoming much much faster with the increasing access to the Internet and social-media. There are almost no secrets whatsoever that stay hidden for long periods of time. 

The struggle between the “political right” and the “political left” with all the ranges and spectras in between have been and still very active. This is one of the major realities after WWII especially after the invent of the Internet. Such struggle even started to look like as if it is a natural phenomena as earth-quakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. The local and regional trends and shifts in social, economic and environmental activities keep piling-up and summing-up, independently or in combination, on global and international levels. Such piling-up and summing-up is reflected in many major and complex political turnoil since the end of WWII; the Cold-War, Israel-Palestina;  IRAQ-war and ISIL; Iran-Nuclear deal, Brexit and EU, Paris-Agreement and UN-SDGs, …… and many many others. These trends and shifts were/are triggered by constant swings of the political pendulum in the USA, every 4-8 years, with major impacts and consequences on the stability and security around the world. However, many political sub-pendulums around the world have feedback impacts on how the political pendulum in the USA will swing and twist. 

The USA put end to WWII but since then it has been the major super-power with many and diverse allies around the world. The total global military investment/expenditures have been enormously accelerating since WWII (https://ourworldindata.org/military-spending/). Europe and also other geo-political regions around the world, e.g. the MENA region and parts of Asia, are still facing new threats as conflicts keep emerging and developing. 

The 2016-President Elect of the USA (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/President-elect_of_the_United_States) is questioning the dependence of many countries around the world, including Europe, on the USA as a super-power in terms of their security and stability. According to him, the USA will not accept this situation as it has negative economic impacts on the USA, which regardless the details and reasons it does (https://politicsandprosperity.com/tag/keynesianism/), so they either pay the USA or do it themselves. But this will cause more instabilities and insecturities. If so, how would the world do to improve its security and stability? Or shall the world still take new risks, increase the levels of insecurity by adding more and more new arms and nuclear-powers, and thereby accelerate more and more the total global military investment and expenditure.

The 2016-Presidential Elections in the USA came to us with several unexpected threats that are likely to impose severe global climate impacts and environmental consequences on all life mechanisms on planet earth. The Trump’s  victory in the USA presidential election, or more precisely the Republicans, will not only ignite a dramatic change to U.S. environmental policy but it will also mean “Game Over” for all environmental and climatic policies around the world. The President-elect has already signaled that his administration will reject President Barack Obama’s policies that aimed at combating climate change, a move that likely would throw all the international efforts during several decades to curb greenhouse gas emissions into chaos. In practical terms Trump, which seems to be the same standpoint of the Republicans, has hinted that he might cut the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as roll back the Obama administration’s Climate Action Plan and associated policies, including participation in the Paris Agreement. While these short-term economic savings with support of the oil industries, i.e. to cover the enormous debt in the USA’s economy, they will definitely end up with tectonic consequences on all life forms on planet Earth which will continuously and gradually erode world economy, including the USA’s economy. This is because of the associated degradation and damage to the world climate and weather systems, and associated impacts on all life processes in oceans, land, surface water and land-water eco-systems, also surface-water and groundwater interactions in the whole hydrosphere, and the major distrubances in global water cycle itself as well as the whole bio-diversity on the Earth. To denay life for generations to come can not be a matter of short-term interests.

These political twists in the USA that take place every decade or so and their associated developments will without hesitation pile-up and excalate to several global conflicts and disasters that can finally end in tearing down the Paris Agreement and the whole web of the UN-SDGs. The world will be facing an accelerating spiral of moving away from the Paris Agreement and pushing back from all support and actions regarding the UN-SDGs. We are in the very point of no return where many climatic and environmental changes are arleady emerging and taking place with an accelerating rate of diverse catostophic and tectonic damages and degradation on all levels of the global bio- and eco-spheres.

Trump and many Republicans have long questioned whether climate change is real and dismissed claims that it poses a major threat, so we are back again in the same type of discussion that took place several decades ago. The President-elect’s stance on climate change runs counter to physical evidence, near-universal scientific consensus, and analyses by military experts and the U.S. Department of Defense. All the scientific research, work and efforts by the global scientific communities for several decades are worth nothing as due to the 2016-Presidential election in the U.S.A. This is from the science, technology and R&D view point a shameful outcome in modern civilizatios and a reverse gear for the world To Be Better Again. We still need to know how and when we can make our planet Earth To Be Better Again.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/11/president-trump-global-climate-change-denial-environment/

Many countries in Asia, also in other countries around the world, the use of sewage water and waters of inadequate quality for growing fish is an expanding business. Fishes grown in sewage water and water with degraded quality are not only a national practice but it is an export product appearing in the global market. 

Poor water management, or even no management at all, is not an exception anymore but appears to be an “global practice”. This is the situation in many countries with severe sanitation, problems, limited and restricted access to clean water and major lack, even absence, of infrastructure for treatment of waste- water from industries, agriculture and household. The only alternative left in these cases for fish-farming is direct reuse of wastewater and degraded waters as wastewater is directly injected, along with dumped solid waste, to natural waters (rivers, lakes and marine coasts). 

Many reports and publications in journals and public media demonstrate that food production and processing, in this case fisheries, is facing severe degradation in quality standards. Consumers in many cases are left with no information on how the fish was produced, the quality of water used in fish farming and more importantly the levels of toxic matter and compounds that exist the final product after being processed. Even in processing the fish was exposed to more toxic detergents. In southern China, for example, beneath the looming mountains of Fujian, lie dozens of enormous ponds filled with murky brown water and teeming with eels, shrimp and tilapia, much of it destined for markets in Japan and the West (http://mobile.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/world/asia/15fish.html?referer=https://www.google.se/). Fuqing is one of the centers of booming industry that over two decades has transformed it into the biggest producer and exporter of seafood in the world, and the fastest-growing supplier to the United States. As one of the farmers said “waters here are filthy and there are too many aquaculture farms, all discharging water here, fouling up other farms.”

Based on existing practices in East India (http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/Y1187E/y1187e35.htm), in this paper from Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations, it is stated that “Sewage in India is a rich nutrient resource, cheaply available around big towns and cities. It can be well-utilized: for fertilizing paddies, fishponds and horticulture crops”. Such waste “utilization/recycling” is even considered to help maintaining a clean environment. 

However, it has been suggested that professional studies  should be done to assess the life-cycle of the water and the associated impacts and consequences on the environments, the agriculture and fish products. The World Health Organization WHO, in 2010 came out with a document on key issues in the safe use of wastewater and excreta in aquaculture, within its “Third edition of the Guidelines for the Safe Use of Wastewater, Excreta and Greywater in Agriculture and Aquaculture Guid”. In this document the historical and current waste-fed practice is described with consideration to all associated health and environmental issues, threats and socio-economic aspects as well as policy measures and recommendations, http://www.unwater.org/wwd10/downloads/WHO_IWA/Wastewater_WWD_2.pdf.

Though existing health, environmental and socio-economic threats of waste-fed fisheries (without wastewater treatment or using simple random treatment) there exist enormous desperation for water and fish-farming regardless water quality issues. With arguements such as “the general view that a fish grown in sewage tanks contains large number of bacteria in their body or are bacterial infected fish is ridicules as observations have proved that they are like other fish grown in fresh water ponds. Rather, the fish produced in sewage fed ponds have better taste then fresh water reared fish. The water of the sewage fed ponds, after fish harvesting can be utilized for irrigation purposes with a dual purpose of irrigation and fertilizing the field”. Unfortunately, desperation and needs force people to take huge risks not only for themselves but to expose the global market and the uninformed consumers around the world to share the same risk.

Other references exist through Google search using “fish production in sewage water” or related key words. 

Climate change due to global warming has far major impacts on the increasing salinity not only in the oceans (https://www.google.se/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2008/oct/27/climate-change-water?client=safari) but also on land-water resources on planet Earth (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210600611000086).

Such impacts will further accelerate the   degradation of freshwater resources on land with major negative impacts on agriculture and health of humans. Increasing salinity of natural drinking water sources has been reported as one of the many problems that affect low-income countries around the world. Yet, this has not been fully explored. This problem is exacerbated by rising sea-levels, owing to climate change, and other contributing factors, like changes in decreasing fresh water flow from rivers due to construction of dams for hydroelectric power generation, waste from desalination plants and increased shrimp farming along the coastal areas. In some countries, desalination plants are used to partly remove salt and other minerals from water sources, but this is unlikely to be a sustainable option for low-income countries affected by high salinity (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210600611000086).

Climate change will make seas more salty where “the rich will be more richer”, i.e. wet regions will become wetter and dry regions will become much drier. For example the Mediterranean area will become drier, increasing “aridity” and enhanced salinity in the water.

Soil salinization in irrigated areas is a degradation process that harms both crop productivity and environment. Climate change in the Mediterranean region will be accompanied by changes in the precipitation patterns and increases in the average temperatures. These new conditions could affect the soil salt build-up due to a decrease in the salt leaching ability of rainfall and because of an increase of the evapotranspiration due to the increase of temperature (https://www.researchgate.net/file.PostFileLoader.html?id=5794725f5b49523fe643b8e1&assetKey=AS%3A387281023193089%401469346399460).

Promotion and implementation of the Paris Agreement and UN-SDGs involves a wide-range of underlaying security and safety requirements. Insecurities and  instabilities create major economical, social and environmental stresses which undermines the fundamental and necessary three pillars for the effective achievement of global sustainability, i.e.  economy, environment and social. While mobility, immigration and integration are of considerable importance for socio-economic developments they still need to take place under organized, structured and adequate environments. The impacts of instabilities in the MENA region are causing major threats for failure of the Paris Agreement and effective promotion and implementation of the UN-SDGs.

Read the story of a teenager that was forced to flee conflicts in her home city. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/11/nujeen-mustafa-syria-wheelchair-christina-lamb/