Billions of people are facing the greatest cost of living crisis in a generation due to rising food and energy prices amid rapid inflation and increasing debt, leaving the most vulnerable consumers in a dire situation, said the UN trade and development body, UNCTAD on Tuesday.

UNCTAD’s analysis shows that a 10 per cent increase in food prices will trigger a five per cent decrease in the incomes of the poorest families, roughly equivalent to the amount those families would normally spend on healthcare.

As consumers try to reduce their spending, they will pay a high price if they buy cheaper, but unsafe products. The United States reports 43,000 deaths and 40 million injuries per year associated with consumer products, with yearly costs of over $3,000 per capita.

“Governments must strive to continue and succeed in their long-term mission of protecting their consumers, a mission of renewed relevance today,” said UNCTAD Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan at the organization’s intergovernmental meeting on consumer protection held on 18 and 19 July.

Keeping consumers safe is generally a top priority for governments around the world. UNCTAD research shows , with a developed network of laws and standards promoting product safety.

While more developed countries have put in place product safety frameworks, including laws, enforcement institutions, recall mechanisms and communication campaigns, developing countries with weaker systems, UNCTAD said, are less able to regulate the scourge of unsafe products.

More international cooperation is therefore needed to improve product safety for all.

In 2020 UNCTAD adopted its first recommendation on product safety. It aims to curb the flow of unsafe products being traded internationally, by strengthening ties among consumer product safety authorities and sensitizing businesses and consumers.

“UNCTAD’s recommendation offers a huge potential for protecting consumers in my country and in yours, if implemented on a broad scale,” said Alexander Hoehn-Saric, chair of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. “By working together, we can improve product safety for all our consumers.”

UNCTAD says consumers’ vulnerability is heightened since they may be unaware that health or safety requirements vary from country to country and may assume that all products on sale online are safe.

As consumers often underestimate risk and may decide to purchase the cheapest products out of financial necessity.

“Product safety is one of the key pillars or drivers of consumer trust,” said Helena Leurent, director general of Consumers International, “the lack of consumer understanding is a substantive challenge,” she added.

According to UNCTAD’s World Consumer Protection Map, 60 per cent of countries lack experience in cross-border enforcement when it comes to consumer protection.

“Most countries in Africa do not have the capacity or experience to deal with the distribution of unsafe products,” said Willard Mwemba, CEO of the COMESA Competition Commission, “but regional efforts can build those capacities and benefit all participating countries.”

High-level officials participating in the UNCTAD meeting agreed that preventing cross-border distribution of known unsafe consumer products is a priority for countries, as it can improve consumer confidence and boost sustainable economic development.

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Independent UN human rights experts on Thursday called on authorities and political candidates standing in next month’s general election to foster an enabling civic space to ensure the vote goes ahead peacefully, and prevent violence.

“Civic space, public participation, fundamental freedoms and a violence-free environment are critical to foster inclusive engagement in the electoral process, and the exercise of political rights,” the experts emphasised in a press release from the UN human rights office OHCHR, as the East African nation prepares to go to the polls on 9 August.

Political tensions during the campaign as well as hate speech by candidates and their supporters, have a dangerous potential to ignite flames of violence, said the experts.

They urged all parties to uphold the right to political participation, freedoms of assembly, opinion and expression, and to respect the role of an independent judiciary.

“All those involved in the electoral process must commit themselves to peaceful conduct prior, during and after elections. Candidates and political parties must refrain from using inflammatory language which may lead to violence and human rights abuses, particularly against women, persons with disabilities, LGBTIQ+ individuals or ethnic groups,” they said.

Kenya has a history of contested elections and political violence, marked by human rights violations, including loss of life, as well as sexual and gender-based violence, the experts noted.

In the aftermath of the 2007 ballot, more than 1,000 people were killed and 350,000 displaced in ethnic riots. Both then rival presidential candidates Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto were summoned to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges of crimes against humanity. Charges were eventually dropped against Mr. Kenyatta, and Mr. Ruto’s case was dismissed.

“Perpetrators who committed human rights violations during past elections are yet to be held accountable,” the experts noted.

Concerned by the impact of repeated violence during past elections denying the right to political participation – particularly for women candidates and voters – the independent experts urged Kenyan authorities to ensure everyone can participate freely in the electoral process, without discrimination.

At the same time, activists, human rights defenders, election monitors and journalists should be allowed to work without intimidation or reprisals. “They play a crucial role during elections to contribute to a free and inclusive electoral process and the credibility of results,” the experts recalled, welcoming the commitment by authorities to refrain from communications shutdowns during the election period.

The leading candidates are former Prime Minister Raila Odinga who has been endorsed by former rival and current president, Mr. Kenyatta, and Mr. Ruto, who is the current deputy president.

Kenya’s election law requires that a presidential candidate win more than 50 percent of the vote for an outright win. This presidential election will be Kenya’s third under the constitution established in 2010.

The independent rights experts who issued the statement receive their mandates from the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva.

They operate in their individual capacity and are neither UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

The pause of disbursements by the World Bank in all of its operations to Government of Sudan as of October 25, 2021 remains in effect. At the same time, the international community is concerned about the growing food insecurity and humanitarian risks in the country and has been working together with the World Bank to find a way to meet the urgent needs of the Sudanese people.

At the request of the international community, today the World Bank signed an agreement with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to provide $100 million in financing directly to WFP for a new Sudan Emergency Safety Nets Project. The project responds to the deep food insecurity in Sudan caused by a poor harvest and rising international food prices. Funded through the support of donors to the Sudan Transition and Recovery Support Trust Fund (STARS), the project aims to provide cash transfers and food to more than two million food insecure beneficiaries in 11 states in Sudan based on a vulnerability assessment carried out by WFP. This support was made possible thanks to contributions from the European Union, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Norway, Canada, Italy, Finland, Spain, Ireland, and the State and Peacebuilding Fund.

“While funding under agreements signed with the Government of Sudan remains paused, development partners are pleased to provide direct support to the Sudanese people during this critical time. This is in line with our Fragility, Conflict, and Violence Strategy which focuses on protecting the human capital of the most vulnerable groups in times of crisis,” said Ousmane Dione, World Bank Country Director for Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Sudan. “Any decision to resume financing to the government will be made following an assessment of the situation. The World Bank continues to closely monitor the situation and there is no specific deadline for such decision.”   

The funds will be channeled solely through the WFP to scale up the food security response and provide direct support to the most vulnerable people of Sudan. Priority will be given to women, children, elders, and those with disabilities. Support will be provided primarily through cash transfers. Where possible, mobile payments will be made to beneficiaries. Specific measures will be taken to reach remote populations without access to internet. Where beneficiaries cannot buy sufficient food in local markets, they will receive direct food assistance instead of cash.

After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on Earth. With applications from housing and industry to coastal defence and infrastructure, concrete and cement are at the cornerstone of life, quite literally.

Unfortunately, the construction industry also has a major environmental impact. Cement production alone generates up to 8% of global carbon emissions, more than aviation (2.5%) although less than the agriculture sector (12%), according to one report.

Innovative thinking is needed to make construction materials more sustainable, while keeping them affordable and versatile. Some in the industry are using new technologies to make concrete ultra-durable, while others are turning to biology to make sustainable biocement.

New types of sustainable concrete are key to providing the foundations for other sustainable infrastructure, such as wind farms, said Professor Liberato Ferrara, a professor of structural analysis and design at the Polytechnic University of Milan in Italy.

‘If we think of all the needs that we have now for the energy transition, I would say that we cannot do this without concrete,’ he said.

He led a project called ReSHEALience, which set out to develop ultra-high-durability concrete (UHDC). Such concrete is able to withstand extreme conditions and self-heal when used for construction in punishing settings like marine environments and geothermal energy plants.

‘These environments are among the most aggressive situations that you can have for concrete structures,’ said Prof Ferrara.

The tailored recipes are what gives these concrete mixes their strength and durability, including components such as crystalline additives, alumina nanofibres and cellulose nanocrystals.

Concrete inevitably cracks during its service life, but one of the features of crystalline mixtures is that they stimulate self-healing. By reacting with water and constituents in the concrete, they form needle-shaped crystals that grow to fill the cracks. The nanofibres mixed through it add mechanical strength to the material and help to enhance its toughness, allowing it to endure extreme conditions. 

UHDC has been tested as a durable substitute for traditional wooden rafts in mussel farming, and to make parts of floating wind-turbine platforms in coastal areas. It has also been tested in the harsh conditions of a geothermal power plant, where its performance improved on traditional methods of construction.

Its use in the restoration of an old water tower in Malta demonstrates the concrete’s potential for the maintenance of heritage architecture.

‘The pilots are matching expectations from all points of view,’ said Prof Ferrara. ‘We succeeded in demonstrating that UHDC is intrinsically a sustainable material. It allows the use of less material to build the same structure, so in the end the environmental footprint and economic balance is better.’

The material slashes resource use both by reducing the amount of material needed in the first place and by lasting much longer, with Prof Ferrara predicting that it may have the potential to last up to 50 years before requiring significant maintenance. 

It can be produced in a wide variety of locations for many different applications using local materials. Moreover, crushed UHDC shows promise as a recycled constituent to produce new concrete with the same mechanical performance and durability as the parent concrete.

The increasing urgency of meeting sustainability goals calls for fresh ways of looking ‘holistically’ at construction, Prof Ferrara added.

‘It’s about spreading a new way of thinking for concrete structures’ that considers the whole value chain and service life of the planned structures, he said. ‘You have to think of the structural design, the procurement of materials, and the materials’ durability and life cycle. If you do not think like that, you will always have partial information and innovation will not break through.’

Elsewhere, researchers are looking at quite different ways of innovating in the construction sector, harnessing the natural processes of living organisms.

For rail companies, the settlement of soils over time in embankments beneath railways can create serious problems and add to maintenance costs and passenger delays. 

Mechanical methods for firming up ground materials or chemical-based stabilisers are usually employed as a solution. However, these can be disruptive and costly, have environmental side-effects and generate carbon emissions.

The NOBILIS project is therefore getting bacteria to do the work, viewing the ground as a living organism rather than a nondescript mass to be moved by bulldozers.

The idea is that stronger soil, created through a process called ‘biocementation’, can reduce the need for earthworks and materials like concrete.

In the process of biocementation, the bacteria’s growth and metabolic activity are stimulated by providing them with nutrients and so-called cementing agents. The resulting enzymes produced by the bacteria catalyse reactions that ultimately form substances such as calcium carbonate, which bind the soil particles together.

The technique has been recognised as having potential in soil with larger particles, such as sandy soils, including forming beach rocks to protect against coastal erosion and for other applications in civil or environmental engineering.

However, a bigger challenge emerges with finer-grained soils like clay and peat, due to more restricted movement of bacteria, water and other substances. Undeterred, NOBILIS is seeking to explore ways to use biocementation on a wider range of soils.

Recent work in East Anglia, UK has demonstrated the possibility of biocementing peat soils. The NOBILIS project will aim to scale up this work through trials in the field, said Professor Maria Mavroulidou, a geotechnical researcher and project lead at London South Bank University (LSBU).

Prof Mavroulidou said this kind of biology-inspired approach requires new ways of thinking and faith in unfamiliar techniques.

‘To tell a practising civil engineer that you’re going to use bacteria to cement the ground raises eyebrows,’ she said, because it’s a paradigm shift for the industry.

Wilson Mwandira, an environmental engineering researcher, also at LSBU, said NOBILIS is investigating techniques to lock up carbon dioxide in the soil as biocementation occurs, as well as looking at the potential of using more indigenous bacteria in the process.

Using bacteria already present in the soil would avoid having a negative impact on organisms already in the environment, explained Mwandira. ‘If you bring new bacteria into a community, you are going to have a disruption in the system,’ he said.

The hope is that such biocementation techniques will become more widely applicable to construction work in general. ‘We’re also trying to extend the technique more generally to other geotechnical materials found in foundations under buildings and civil-engineering construction,’ said Professor Michael Gunn, a geotechnical engineer also at LSBU. ‘All construction requires some form of ground improvement.’

He thinks that it could take a number of years for the techniques to be used in a more routine way, but that it is essential such innovative methods are explored to address long-term challenges in construction.

‘A significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions in the form of carbon dioxide is down to the construction industry,’ he said. ‘So we need to move away from the traditional processes.’

The research in this article was funded by the EU. This article was originally published in Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation Magazine.  

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