Irish Aid Fellowship Training Program for Tanzanian Students 2018/2019

Application Deadline: 2nd January 2018

Eligible Countries: Tanzania

To Be Taken At (Country): Ireland

About the Award: The programme presents a unique opportunity to study in an international setting and benefit from the research facilities provided by Irish Universities and Institutes of Technology which rank among some of the top education and learning centres in the world.

Irish Aid Fellowships aim to support capacity strengthening for the attainment of long-term development goals through enhancing the skills and capacities of key individuals, generally drawn from the public services and NGO sectors.

Operating for over 40 years, Irish Aid Fellowships have supported more than 2,000 successful awardees who have returned to their organisations on completing their studies, and are committed to putting their acquired knowledge and skills into practice for the benefit of the wider community.

Fellowships are awarded for full-time study at Masters level, with a focus on courses that are relevant to Irish Aid’s development objectives. On completion, Fellowship recipients commit to resume work and put their acquired skills into good use for the benefit of their home countries.

Fields of Study: Scholarships for 2018/19 will be awarded to Tanzanian applicants seeking to undertake study on the following courses:

Gender Studies and Public Advocacy

• MA in Women, Gender and Society at University College Dublin

• MA in Gender, Globalisation and Rights at the National University of Ireland, Galway

• MA in Public Advocacy and Activism at the National University of Ireland, Galway

Agriculture, Environmental Science and Rural Development

• MSc (Agr) in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development at University College Dublin

• MSc in Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security at the National University of Ireland, Galway

• MA in Rural Sustainability at the National University of Ireland, Galway

Sustainable Technology

• MEngSc in Sustainable Energy at University College Cork

• ME in Sustainable Electrical Energy Systems at the Dublin Institute of Technology

• MSc in Environmental Technology at University College Dublin

Type: Fellowship, Masters

Eligibility: To be eligible, applicants must:

• be a Tanzanian citizen
• be resident in Tanzania.
• have achieved the necessary academic standard to be accepted onto a Master’s degree course in a higher education institution in Ireland.
• have an IELTS English language qualification of 6.5 or higher by the time they submit their application. Applications that do not provide evidence of this qualification will not be considered.
• be able to demonstrate a strong commitment to the development of their home country.
• be applying to commence a new qualification and not be seeking funding for a course they have already commenced or which will begin before fellowship awards have been notified.
• be able to take up the Fellowship in the academic year 2018/2019.
• provide a letter of reference from their employer or other referee.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: Fully-funded

How to Apply: Application forms are available here

Completed applications should be sent to TanzaniaFellowships[at]dfa[dot]ie.

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Government of Ireland

Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellowship (Funded to New York) 2018

Application Deadline: 30th November, 2017

Eligible Countries: Countries outside the United States and Western Europe.

To be taken at (country): CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism, New York City

Type: Fellowship

About the Award: Magnum Foundation’s Photography and Social Justice Program expands diversity and creativity in the field of documentary photography through capacity-building and critical explorations of photography and social change.

Each year, the program supports a diverse, international group of Photography and Social Justice Fellows who are passionate about challenging injustice, pursuing social equality, and advancing human rights through photography. With New York City as a cultural resource, the program provides space for interdisciplinary experimentation, mentored project development, and cross-cultural, critical discourse at the intersection of photography and social justice. During the program, Fellows work on projects in their home communities with support from Magnum Foundation’s mentors.

Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellows are early-career photographers or individuals trained in aligned disciplines who are motivated to deepen their engagement with photography and visual storytelling. Photography and Social Justice Fellows are part of social, political, or cultural groups who are currently or historically oppressed or excluded, and come from communities around the world where freedom of expression is limited. This program especially aims to support people of color, women, gender non-conforming individuals, LGBTQ individuals, individuals who are part of racial, ethnic, or religious minority groups, and others whose authorship is unevenly represented within the field of documentary photography. Refugees are welcome to apply.

Eligibility: Eligible candidates include:

– Early-career documentary photographers, artists, and photojournalists
– Activists who use photography in their change-making practice
– Journalists who would like to deepen their engagement with photography
– Scholars who incorporate images and image-making in their research and scholarship

Preference is given to those who have not had previous opportunity to do a formal course of study in photography at the university level. Applicants must be proficient in spoken and written English. All instruction will be in English and there will be no simultaneous translation for instruction or discussion during the course sessions. We are especially seeking applications from people of color, women, individuals who are part of social, political, or cultural groups who are currently or historically oppressed or excluded, and queer, trans, and, gender non-conforming people. Refugees are welcome to apply

Selection Process: Fellows will be chosen by the Magnum Foundation’s internal selection committee and notified Mid-February 2018. All finalists for the fellowship will be interviewed to ensure verbal proficiency in English. (Please note that this language requirement exists because Fellows’ discussions, workshops, readings, and mentorship sessions in New York are conducted in English.)

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Fellowship: Magnum Foundation covers the cost of travel and room and board for the sessions in New York City. Fellows also receive a modest stipend to support the production of their projects.

Duration of Fellowship: six months

How to Apply: Apply here

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Magnum Foundation, City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.

Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme 2017 for Study in UK Universities

Application Deadline: 29th March 2017 at the latest. Each university has its own closing date for applications, and most are before 29 March 2017.

Offered annually? Yes

Accepted Subject Areas: Commonwealth Shared Scholarship scheme is for taught Master’s courses only. All courses undertaken must be demonstrably relevant to the economic, social or technological development of the candidate’s home country. See full list of courses from the 2016 CSS prospectus

About Scholarship: The Commonwealth Shared Scholarships, set up by the Department for International Development (DFID) in 1986, represent a unique partnership between the United Kingdom government and UK universities. To date, more than 3,500 students from developing Commonwealth countries have been awarded Shared Scholarships. Without these awards they would not otherwise have been able to benefit from UK higher education.

UK universities have offered to support the scholarships by contributing the stipend for the students from their own resources, or those which the university has been able to generate from elsewhere. See list of participating universities from the CSS prospective 2016 below.

Offered Since: 1986

Who is qualified to apply? To apply for a Commonwealth Shared Scholarship scheme, candidates must:

• Be a Commonwealth citizen, refugee, or British protected person
• Be permanently resident in a developing Commonwealth country (for a full list of eligible countries, see the terms and conditions in link below)
• Be available to start your academic studies in the UK by the start of the UK academic year in September/October 2017
• By August 2017, hold a first degree of either first or upper second class (2:1) classification, or lower second class (2:2) classification plus a relevant postgraduate qualification (usually a Master’s degree)
• Not have studied or worked for one (academic) year or more in a developed country
• Be unable, either yourself or through your family, to pay to study in the UK

The CSC promotes equal opportunity, gender equity, and cultural exchange. Applications are encouraged from a diverse range of candidates. The CSC is committed to administering and managing its scholarships and fellowships in a fair and transparent manner.

Selection: Each participating UK university will conduct its own recruitment process to select a specified number of candidates for Shared Scholarships. Universities must put forward their selected candidates to the CSC by 26 April 2017. The CSC will then confirm that these candidates meet the eligibility criteria for this scheme. Universities will inform candidates of their results by July 2017.

Selection criteria include:

• Academic merit of the candidate
• Potential impact of the work on the development of the candidate’s home country

Number of Scholarships: Up to 227 scholarship positions

Scholarship value: The CSC funds the cost of tuition fees (at overseas rate), return airfares, and other allowances. Participating universities are required to support the student stipend for the award holder (at the rate set by the UK government).

Duration of scholarship: Awards are normally tenable for one-year taught postgraduate courses only.

Eligible Commonwealth Countries

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Fiji*, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Montserrat, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guineas, Pitcairn, Rwanda, St Helena, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania,Tonga,Trinidad and Tobago, Tristan da Cunha, Turks and Caicos, Tuvalu, Uganda,Vanuatu, Western Samoa, Zambia, Zimbabwe*

To be taken at (country): Various UK Universities. Download CSS prospectus 2017 below for full list of participating universities and respective deadlines

How to Apply

You should apply to study an eligible Master’s course at a UK university that is participating in the Shared Scholarship scheme.

You must make your application using the CSC’s Electronic Application System (EAS). Click here for full information on how to use the EAS, including detailed guides.

Before applying, you must check with your UK university for their specific advice, admission requirements, and rules for applying. Some universities may require you to complete their own admissions application form as well, which may have a separate closing date. You must take the necessary steps to secure admission to your chosen course(s) at your preferred university/universities at the same time as applying for a Shared Scholarship.

You can apply for more than one course and/or to more than one university, but you may only accept one offer of a Shared Scholarship. The CSC will not accept any applications that are not submitted via the EAS to your UK university or applications directly from individuals.

All applications must be submitted by 23.59 (BST) on 29 March 2017 at the latest. Each university has its own closing date for applications, and most are before 29 March 2017. For a full list of closing dates, see the terms and conditions.

All enquiries about Commonwealth Shared Scholarship scheme should be directed to the university to which you wish to apply.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for Details

Sponsors: UK Department for International Development (DFID), as part of the UK international development programme to developing countries, and participating institutions in the UK. The scheme is administered by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC).

Lund University Global Scholarship for International Students 2018

Application Deadline: Students applying for degree programmes in English for Autumn 2017 (August/September) session should apply :

• Late October – 15th January for studies starting in the autumn semester (August/September).
• Application for the scholarship will be in early February 2018, after the deadline to apply for studies.

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: International (country from outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland)

To be taken at (country): Lund University, Sweden

About the Award: The Lund University Global Scholarship programme is targeted at top academic students who are citizens of countries from outside the European Union/European Economic Area (and Switzerland). Top academic students have a proven record of achieving consistently high grades in previous studies.

Type: Undergraduate, Masters

Selection Criteria: The selection process for scholarships is undertaken in parallel with the programme/course selection process. Priority will be given to students with high academic performance and who demonstrate a strong commitment and desire to study at Lund University.

Who is qualified to apply? To be eligible to apply for a scholarship you must meet all of the following criteria:

• You must be a citizen of a country from outside the EU/EEA (and Switzerland) and are required to pay a tuition fee
• You have applied for Bachelor’s or Master’s level studies in the regular application rounds for a minimum of one semester of study (30 ECTS)

Number of Scholarships: Not Specified

Value of Scholarship:

• Scholarship grants may cover 25%, 50%, 75% or up to 100% of the tuition fee. The scholarship percentage awarded depends on budget available to the programme/faculty. It has no reflection on the students’ academic level of excellence.
• Please note that scholarships are toward tuition fees only and that living costs are not covered. Scholarship recipients must still be able to fund their living costs, as per the requirements of the Swedish Migration Board.

Duration of Scholarship: Scholarship will last for the duration of study

How to Apply

To apply for a Lund University Global Scholarship, you must first apply for the programme(s) or free-standing course(s) you wish to study at Lund University using the online, national application website, www.universityadmissions.se, during the application period. Once you have made a complete application to a degree programme or free-standing courses of at least 30 ECTS credits and paid the application fee, you will be able to apply for the scholarship. For autumn 2017 studies, the scholarship application period will be in early February 2017, after the deadline to apply for studies.

As part of this online application, you need to upload your scholarship ‘motivation letter’ (maximum 600 words). Please note that the scholarship “motivation letter” is different from any statement of purpose you may be required to submit as part of your programme application documents.  Your scholarship personal “motivation letter” should explain why your academic performance and reasons for applying to Lund University make you an appropriate recipient for a Lund University Global Scholarship.

You can only apply for one Lund University Global Scholarship per programme or free-standing course. However, it is still possible for you to apply to other scholarships, such as (for example) the Swedish Institute scholarships.

Visit Scholarship webpage for Details

Sponsors: Lund University, Sweden

Centre of African Studies Visiting Research Fellowship at University of Cambridge, UK 2018/2019

Application Deadline: 15th January 2018.

Offered Annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: African countries

To be taken at (country): The Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge, UK

Eligible Field of Study: Applications are invited from candidates in all the disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Applicants are expected to have completed a doctoral degree before the Fellowship start date.

About Fellowship: The Centre of African Studies, with the generous assistance of the A.G. Leventis Foundation, is pleased to announce two Visiting Research Fellowships to be held at the University of Cambridge. The aim of the Fellowships is to enable the fellows to focus on a period of research and writing in Cambridge. Applications are invited for Visiting Research Fellowships to take effect from October 2018. The maximum duration of a Fellowship is six months and is non-renewable.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to submit a substantial piece of written work as part of their application. Fellows will have access, by agreement, to the holdings of Faculty and Departmental libraries, to the library of the Centre of African Studies and to the University Library, which houses the extensive collection of materials relating to the history of the Commonwealth formerly housed in the Royal Commonwealth Society Library in London.

Type: Post-doctoral, fellowship

Eligibility

• Preference will be given to candidates with a distinguished research profile commensurate with their academic rank.
• Early-to mid-career researchers are particularly encouraged to apply.
• Offers are normally made to applicants who are permanent residents in Africa.
• It is expected that applicants would be intending to come to Cambridge to work on a project building on existing research for which a period of residence in Cambridge is demonstrably appropriate.
• They should present a clear and feasible plan for preparing one or more pieces of work for publication.
• The initiation of a new research project will not be ruled out where there is a realistic expectation that it could be substantially advanced by the end of the tenure of the Fellowship.
• The University follows an equal opportunities policy and does not discriminate according to race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.

Number of Scholarships: Two

Value of Scholarship: Each award is worth up to £17,000, out of which travel, college accommodation, maintenance costs and medical insurance will be paid by the Centre on behalf of the fellow. The Centre is not able to provide additional sums for the travel and living expenses of anyone accompanying the Fellow to Cambridge. The sum is not subject to tax in the UK.

Duration of Scholarship: Visiting Research Fellowships for the period 1st October 2018 – March 2019.

How to Apply: In order to apply for a Fellowship you will need to submit an application to the Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge, by 15 January 2017 and to arrange for your references to arrive at the Centre by the same date. The Centre is not able to consider applications that are not complete. This application package contains the following:

• a copy of the notice of award;
• guidance on the information required in your curriculum vitae;
• guidance on the type of project details required;
• guidance for you to pass to your referees.

Your application must include the following:

• your curriculum vitae including details of publications;
• your project details;
• a photocopy of your PhD certificate (if applicable);
• a photocopy of your passport;
• two references to be sent directly by your referees to

The Director,
University of Cambridge,
Centre of African Studies,
Alison Richard Building,
7 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DT,
UK.

E-mail: centre@african.cam.ac.uk

Completed applications must be sent either by e-mail or in hard copy to:

E-mail: centre@african.cam.ac.uk

University of Cambridge
Centre of African Studies
Alison Richard Building
7 West Road
Cambridge CB3 9DT
UK

no later than 15 January 2018

Visit fellowship webpage to download application package

Provider: The Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge, UK, Leventis Foundation

Leventis Foundation Training Program in Modern and Sustainable Agriculture 2018

Application Deadline: 24th November, 2017

Screening/Examination: Saturday 25th November, 2017

Eligible Countries: Nigeria

To Be Taken At (Country): Nigeria

About the Award: The Leventis Foundation (Nigeria) is a charitable company dedicated to the training of farmers in modern and sustainable agricultural practices and rational use of natural resources.

The Foundation has been running agricultural training for youths and farmers since 1987 and currently has six schools in the different agro-ecological zones in Nigeria. The schools are located in the FCT, Osun, Kaduna, Kano and Gombe States are co-financed by Leventis Foundation and the respective State Governments. All the schools offer training to young people (male and female) desirous of making a good career in farming. The comprehensive one-year training exposes the participants to several areas of agriculture and other farm businesses.

In addition to the regular one-year training, all Leventis (Nigeria) schools offer a variety of vocational targeted short courses in several aspects of farming e.g. poultry production, vegetable production, bee-keeping, honey production, fish farming, mushroom production e.t.c.

Type: Training

Eligibility: Applicants should fulfill the following conditions among others;

• Be physically fit
• Ability to read and write in English (evidence of minimum of junior secondary school may be required)
• Age between 18 and 40 years.
• Pass both written and oral test prior to final selection
• Should demonstrate perceivable interest in agriculture
•  Proof of farming background is an advantage.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: 

• The objective of the training, which is FREE OF ALL COSTS, is to create in Nigeria, generations of committed young practical farmers who will act as catalysts for agricultural revolution in their communities.
• Admission is open to both male and female candidates. Tuition and boarding (including feeding) is provided free of charge for successful candidates throughout the duration of the course.

Duration of Program: 1 year

How to Apply: Application in applicant’s own hand writing including concrete information in respect of each of the above requirements together with a letter signed by the Chairman or Secretary of the candidate’s Local Government of Origin, or an attestation letter from a Justice of Peace (JP), two (2) recent passport size photographs, three (3) references and photocopies of academic qualification(s) or relevant documents should be forwarded to any of the addresses below, preferably, to the school of choice.

(1) Leventis Foundation/ Osun State
Agricultural Training School
Imo, P.M.B. 5074 Ilesa
Osun State

(2) Leventis Foundation/ Kaduna State
Agricultural Training School
Dogon Dawa, Birini Gwari LG,
P.M.B 1047, Zaria Kaduna State.

(3) Leventis Foundation/ Kano State
Agricultural Training School
Panda, Albasu Local Government
P.M.B. 3555, Kano State

(4) Leventis Foundation/Gombe State
Agricultural Training School
Tumu, Akko Local Government
Gombe State.

(5) Leventis Foundation /FCT
Agricultural Training School
Yaba, Abaji Area Council
P.M.B. 001, Abaji,
Abuja.

(6) The General Manager (Technical and Training)
Leventis Foundation (Nigeria) Ltd/Gte
2, Leventis Close, Central Business District
P.O.Box 20351, Garki Abuja, FCT.

www.leventisfoundation.org.ng

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Leventis Foundation (Nigeria) Ltd

Symantec Graduate Fellowship Program (Fully-funded to USA) 2018

Application Deadline: 1st December, 2017 (Pacific Time Zone).

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: All

To be taken at (country): USA

About the Award: Symantec will award Symantec Research Labs (SRL) Graduate Fellowships to outstanding Ph.D. students who meet the eligibility criteria listed below. A key goal of the program is to fund innovative research that has real-world value, in areas where Symantec conducts business. We are soliciting applications for the following areas:

• Next Generation Security: Security, cryptography and cyber-risk assessment and modeling, in the areas of networks, information security, big data analytics, data center, privacy, cloud, etc.
• Network and Cloud Security: Advance the state of the art in digital certificates, high throughput network security, securing public/private Cloud infrastructure, applications, and services, etc.
• Machine learning and data mining: Extend and apply predictive-analytics and anomaly-detection algorithms at scale, in support of the security and systems areas mentioned above.

Award recipients are strongly encouraged to take a separate salaried internship with Symantec that we plan to offer to all fellowship recipients.  Interns will usually work directly with Symantec Research Labs at one of our locations (Culver City, CA, USA; Mountain View, CA, USA; Dublin, Ireland; Sophia-Antipolis, France) or with another group within Symantec. Each recipient is paired with a mentor from Symantec. A mentor is a top researcher or engineer who can provide ongoing technical guidance on the recipient’s research during graduate training as well as during an internship at Symantec.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: 

• Applying students must be enrolled in a Ph.D. program.
• Preference will be given to students with a desire to work in an industrial research lab and those working on innovative research projects in areas related to Symantec’s businesses such as host-based and network security, cloud computing, virtualization, machine learning, data mining, etc.
• Recipients will also be selected based on their overall potential for research excellence and their academic progress to date as evidenced by publications.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Fellowship: The SRL Graduate Fellowship provides up to $20,000 USD that may be used to cover one year of the student’s tuition fees and to reimburse expenses incurred by the student to engage into research collaboration with Symantec, such as conference registration fees, travel expenses, hardware, etc. If the fellowship is to cover tuition, this portion of the award will be made through the university.

How to Apply: Application materials must include the following:

• Resume or C.V.
• Personal statement of research interests not to exceed 500 words. Applicants are strongly encouraged to articulate the value and novelty of their research.
• Two letters of recommendation from professors or industry researchers who can evaluate the applicant’s scientific aptitude and potential for research.  Letters of recommendation may be sent separately and confidentially.

Application Dates and Process for the 2018 Fellowship

• Fellowship applications, including Resumes or C.V.’s, personal statements of research, and letters of recommendation, must be received no later than 5:00pm on December 1st, 2017 (Pacific Time Zone).
• As part of the application process, some candidates may be contacted for telephone interviews.
• Final award decisions will be announced in January 2018.
• Applications and letters of recommendation may be sent to us in the following ways:
  
  Email to: SRLFellowship@Symantec.com
  Mail to:
  Attn. Kevin Roundy
  SRL Fellowship
  900 Corporate Pointe
  Culver City, CA 90230

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Symantec

Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters and PhD Scholarships for Study in Europe 2018/2019

Application Deadline: Most consortia will require applications to be submitted between October and January, for courses starting the following academic year.

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: EU and Non-EU Countries

To be taken at (country): European Universities/Institutions participating under approved Erasmus Mundus Action Joint Programmes.

Eligible Fields of Study: See links below

About the Award: About 116 Masters courses and 8 Joint Doctorate courses are supported by the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees (EMJMDs) and the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorates (EMJD) scholarships. The field(s) of study covered are usually: Agriculture and Veterinary, Engineering, Manufacture and Construction, Health and Welfare, Humanities and Arts, Science, Mathematics and Computing, Social Sciences, Business and Law.

Type: Masters and PhD Degree

Eligibility: Erasmus Mundus Joint Programme defines its own selection criteria and admission procedures. Students or scholars should contact the Consortium offering the Masters /Doctoral  Programmes for more information.

Number of Awardees: Not specified.

Value of Scholarship: The programme offers full-time scholarships and/or fellowships that cover monthly allowance, participation costs, travelling and insurance costs of the students.  Scholarship amounts can vary according to the level of studies, the duration of studies, and the scholar’s nationality (scholarships for non-EU students are higher than for EU students).

Duration of Scholarship: 

• EMJMDs last between 12 and 24 months.
• EMJDs have up to three years of doctoral activities.

How to Apply: Students, doctoral candidates, teachers, researchers and other academic staff should address their applications directly to the selected Erasmus Mundus masters and doctoral programmes (Action 1) and to the selected Erasmus Mundus partnerships (Action 2), in accordance with the application conditions defined by the selected consortium/partnership

You are advised to consult in advance the websites of each of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Programmes that interest you. There you will find all necessary information concerning the content of the course, its structure, the scholarship amounts as well as the application and selection procedures. Deadline varies depending on the programme but falls around December to January.

It is important to visit the official website (link below) and an EMJMD site for detailed information on how to apply for this scholarship.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: European Commission

An Urgent Call on Climate Change

Cesar Chelala

A just released report on climate change (Climate Science Special Report) issued by 13 U.S. federal agencies states that human activities are responsible for the global temperature rise that has led to the warmest period in the history of civilization. The report came as the U.N. has convened its conference on climate change in Bonn, Germany, from November 6th to the 17^th.  This will be a unique opportunity to discuss climate change effects on people’s health.

The recent natural catastrophic events in the United States and Puerto Rico -which may be related to or worsened by climate change- call attention to the effects this phenomenon has on human health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO,) the warming and precipitation trends associated with climate change claim over 150,000 lives annually. It is possible that the costs of this phenomenon will increase with time –both in lives as well as in economics- underscoring the need for more effective approaches to this problem.

The rate of global warming has accelerated over the last few decades and, as a result, sea levels are rising, glaciers are melting and precipitation patterns are changing. As we have recently seen in the Caribbean and North America, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more intense, and so have been the consequences on the lives of every population in nature.

People’s health is the result of factors such as genetic make-up, nutrition, level of activity, social milieu, economic status, and education among other factors. In addition to those, there are other determinants of health such as clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food, secure shelter and access to health care, all of which are affected by climate change.

Although climate change may bring some localized benefits, such as fewer deaths in winter and increased food production in some regions as a result of temperature increase, its effects on health are mostly negative. They include infectious and allergic diseases as well as mental health problems caused by moving people out of their homes and, in most cases, placing them into much more precarious living conditions.

At a global level, the number of weather-related natural disasters has more than tripled since the 1960s, resulting in an enormous amount of deaths (some estimated indicate over 100,000 deaths per year), which occur mostly in developing countries. Rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions not only destroy homes but also affect medical facilities and other health and social services. Floods contaminate freshwater supplies, increase the risk of water-borne diseases, and create breeding ground for mosquitoes, with their considerable disease-carrying capacity.

Malaria, which is transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes, and kills almost one million people every year –mainly African children under five years old-, is strongly influenced by climate. And so is the Aedes mosquito vector of dengue, a most debilitating disease. An estimated 390 million dengue infections occur worldwide each year, with about 96 million resulting in illness. It is estimated that the number of people affected by dengue will increase substantially in the next few decades.

Rising temperatures and altered precipitation patterns will likely decrease the production of staple foods, particularly in the poorest African countries. This will result in increases in malnutrition and under nutrition –particularly among children-, which currently cause 3.5 million deaths every year. A United Nations (UN) panel on climate change reported that, over all, global warming could reduce agricultural production by as much as two percent each decade for the rest of the century, while population will grow to 9.6 billion in 2050, from 7.2 billion today.

Higher temperatures increase ground-level ozone concentrations and direct lung injuries and more serious respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Climate change will also lengthen the transmission seasons of important vector-borne diseases and modify their geographic range, according to WHO. Disease migration responds to complex dynamics, of which temperature is one more factor.

Although all kinds of populations are affected by climate change some groups such as children, older people and the poor are more vulnerable. Countries with weak health infrastructure and beset by economic problems will be the least able to respond with adequate assistance, a situation starkly seen now in Puerto Rico.

Even if many actions can be carried out at the individual level, it is necessary to strengthen the awareness of governments about the seriousness of the situation and the urgency to create adequate mechanisms to respond to this challenge. Otherwise, we will ignore the damage at our own peril.

Greatest Threat to Peace in Iraq is Not Isis, It’s Trump Picking a Fight With Iran

Patrick Cockburn

“Fake facts!” exclaimed a senior Iraqi official in exasperation, as he pointed to photographs online allegedly showing the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Kirkuk, orchestrating the Iraqi government retaking of the city last month. He said that in reality the picture, tweeted by a Kurdish leader as evidence of Iranian hegemony, dates from 2014.

The greatest threat to the growing stability of Iraq is the differences between the US and Iran being fought out politically – and even militarily – in Iraq. The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in an interview with The Independent earlier this week that his greatest concern is a US-Iran crisis. He added that “it is not my job to solve their differences, but it is my job to prevent their confrontation inside Iraq”. He hoped that mutual denunciations by Washington and Tehran would turn out to be rhetorical.

Given US hostility to Iran, the Baghdad government is alarmed by what it sees as an attempt to portray it as an Iranian proxy manipulated by Mr Soleimani and reliant on the Shia paramilitary Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilisation Units (PMUs). “Today’s offensive by Iraq, PMU Shia militia commanded by Iranian IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] on Kirkuk have sadly started a new war in Iraq & Kurdistan,” reads a tweet from Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurdish leader and former Iraqi foreign minister, last month.

The senior Iraqi official said that Mr Soleimani never meets Mr Abadi or anybody else of real importance in Baghdad and has also failed to get an audience with the Shia supreme religious authority, Ali Sistani, in the holy city of Najaf. He said: “In fact, Iranian influence over the Hashd has been going down over the last two years because they are no longer paying most of the groups, aside from Ketaeb Hezbollah.”

The propaganda war is intense and unscrupulous, with Kurdish leaders in Irbil and much of the Arab media claiming that Iran pulls the strings in Baghdad, though the US is the government’s main military ally. The PMUs are portrayed as sectarian death squads which are leading the offensive into Iraqi Kurdistan. One video posted online purports to show the Kurds blowing up a bridge over the Lesser Zaab river at Altun Kupri, where Kurdish and Iraqi forces confront each other, to block the PMUs advancing into the Kurdish heartlands. In reality, the bridge is still standing and the much-watched video is of an entirely different bridge in Topeka, Kansas being destroyed in a controlled explosion to make way for new construction.

The US has always been paranoid about Iranian influence in Iraq, and tends to conflate Iraqi Shia fighting for their community and variant of Islam with proxies under the control of Iran. The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, on a visit to Baghdad last month, said the Hashd should “go home”, apparently believing that its members were IRGC fighters from Iran. Mr Abadi speaks out vigorously in defence of the Hashd, but says he is determined that they must be under strict government control.

The power of the Hashd has become more limited today than when they were created as a mass movement three years ago, by a fatwa from Grand Ayatollah Sistani – though several paramilitary organisations like the Badr Organisation, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Ketaeb Hezbollah have a much longer history. This was in June 2014 when the Iraqi army had lost Mosul to Isis and looked as if it would be unable to defend Baghdad.

The Hashd was central in defending the capital and in early counter-offensives against Isis, but has increasingly had a secondary role in military operations which are now led by the highly trained and experienced Counter-Terrorism Force (CTF). In the nine-month siege of Mosul, the Hashd occupied territory outside the city, but the assault was led by the CTF, Federal Police and Emergency Response Division. There were no Hashd units in Kirkuk city earlier this week, though they do have joint checkpoints with the army along the road back to Baghdad.

The Hashd, who are part of the Iraqi security forces and paid for by the state, are becoming less independent and less influenced by Iran because the Iraqi government is much more powerful than it used to be. But there is no doubt that Sunni and Kurds are frightened of them and they have a nasty reputation for sectarianism and criminality. For all their claims to be obedient to the state, there is an Iraqi saying that there are four givers of the law in Iraq: the government, the religious authorities, the tribes – and the Hashd.

Qais al-Khazali, 43, the leader of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq Shia paramilitary group, denies that it is under the control of Iran or is sectarian. Dressed in a white turban and black robes, he answers questions swiftly and articulately, showing a moderation that feels out of keeping with his violent past. Once a lieutenant of the nationalist populist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, from whom he split in 2004, he set up Asaib Ahl al-Haq which rapidly gained a reputation for ferocity and close links to Iran. Arrested by the British in 2007, he was released in exchange for a British hostage in 2010. Speaking in his office in Najaf in an interview with The Independent, he was keen to emphasise that his group were neither sectarian nor pawns of Iran. “It is one of their lies,” he says in response to the charge of sectarian killings. “There has been no sectarian cleansing. I am adamant – we did not bring in any Shia families to a Sunni area.”

He says that American forces should leave Iraq because they are no longer needed. “They don’t want to leave, but we can force them to,” he says. “We have experience in resistance. If there is a mandate from the Iraqi parliament and the Iraqi people, then we will stand up to them.” This would be the sort of nightmare envisaged by Mr Abadi, in which Iraqi Hashd – which the US believes are under Iranian direction – start killing American soldiers.

As for the role of Iran and Mr Soleimani in the taking of Kirkuk, Mr Khazali says that they were supportive to Mr Abadi and Iraqi government forces. “The reason the Prime Minister gets the credit is because he galvanised a great force to show he was serious.” He says that what Mr Soleimani did was to pass on to the Kurds that Mr Abadi really meant business and they would not be able to resist.

As for the future of the Hashd, he says that “in future it should be completely amalgamated with the Iraqi military and should not be involved in politics.” Much here will depend on whether or not there is a prolonged confrontation with the Kurds in northern Iraq, in which case Baghdad will continue to need large military forces, including the Hashd. As of Thursday, Baghdad is threatening to end a truce and take military action after the failure of talks about the central government taking control of the borders of Kurdistan.

Speaking of more general developments in Iraq, Mr Khazali made an interesting point. He said that after the US invasion of 2003, it was the Shia and the Kurdish communities, long opposed to and oppressed by Saddam Hussein, who held power. But this Kurdish-Shia bloc was dissolved when the Kurds voted for independence in the referendum on 25 September, and cannot be rebuilt. He says it might be time for the Shia community to look to the Sunni rather than the Kurds as their new partners in running Iraq. Asked if he thought the era of wars in Iraq was over, Mr Khazali, replied: “Iraq is similar to Alice in Wonderland – you cannot predict what is going to happen next.”

Chinese Power: How Will It be Used?

THOMAS HON WING POLIN

In the new era that Xi Jinping declared at the just-completed 19th CPC Congress, China’s power will be more visibly on display in its international relationships. That is likely to give the nation’s ill-wishers much fodder with which to demonize it further. All the more important, therefore, for well-informed onlookers to understand the context of Chinese power projection in the 21^st century.

Since the dark days of the late Qing Dynasty, Chinese reformers and leaders of all political persuasion have regarded “fuqiang” (rich and strong) as the ultimate goal of China’s self-improvement efforts. First, of course, the catastrophic consequences of dynastic collapse had to be dealt with. Mao Zedong did that by leading an epic revolution that reunited the nation and restored its sovereign authority.

“Fu” (wealth) then became the historical mission of the Deng Xiaoping era. China accomplished it in spades, becoming an economic superpower and setting many world records in the process. To focus on that monumental task, Beijing’s foreign policy was low-key, risk-adverse and highly accommodating. It was perfectly encapsulated in Deng’s dictum, “Lie low and build strength.”

Now that “fu” is initially accomplished, China under Xi is finally turning to “qiang.” What does exercising strength mean, to the Chinese? Certainly not what the Western powers have demonstrated the past two centuries: hegemonic subjugation of other nations and peoples, looting their resources, and institutionalizing that exploitation via global systems rigged in their favor.

China’s way of exercising power is already apparent the past few years. At the core is an effort to build international ties of a mutually beneficial and largely economic nature. Its quintessence is the Belt & Road Initiative, a vision to turn the entire EurAsian landmass into a vibrant, interconnected hub of human productivity and welfare. Millennia of history show that China is not at heart a predatory power.

But given contemporary realities, the BRI megaproject is more than likely to come under full-spectrum assault from the predatory, militaristic US-led imperium, whose longstanding global dominion it threatens. This is where Chinese strength will come in (together with that of BRI partners). Given EurAsia’s vastness, China will need powerful, state-of-the-art military capabilities simply to protect BRI’s footprint. And that, as President Xi has made clear, is what China is committed to building.

Beijing’s growing power will also be used to defend the nation’s core interests. Those who would challenge it on sovereignty issues can expect significantly stronger pushback. That includes Taiwan, the South China Sea, Diaoyu Islands, Tibet, Xinjiang and even Hong Kong, where local anti-Communists have joined forces with the imperium’s agents to stymie progress for two decades.

A time-honored Chinese maxim on the use of force goes: “If you don’t mess with me, I won’t mess with you. But if you mess with me, I will assuredly mess with you.” Mao and his successors actually stated that, from time to time. Another saying: “A weak country has no foreign policy.” In the 21st century, those adages will likely become the animus for China’s exercise of power.