Day: July 16, 2023

DUBAI, 16th July, 2023 (WAM) Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has received submissions from numerous experts and researchers comprising 95 global universities and research centres from 36 countries around the world to participate in the first Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Solar Conference 2023, and showcase their latest research and scientific discoveries at the first scientific and technical conference of its kind in the region, specialising in solar energy. DEWA is organising the event from 15th to 18th November 2023 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA, pointed out that the unlimited support of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has made DEWA one of the most important contributors to the development of the clean and renewable energy sector around the world. He stated that the MENA Solar Conference 2023 serves as a prime platform for showcasing the latest innovations, research papers, and scientific discoveries in solar energy. Scientists, researchers, investors, and international keynote speakers will gather to exchange knowledge, insights, and discuss breakthrough ideas and research.It is expected to witness a massive turnout as it is held before the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 28), the largest international climate event. The UAE will host COP28 at Expo City Dubai in November. MENA Solar Conference will also take place in conjunction with the 25th Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition (WETEX) and Dubai Solar Show (DSS) 2023, which is organised by DEWA from 15th to 17th November at the Dubai World Trade Centre. It is the largest exhibition in the region in the energy, water, green development, sustainability and related sectors and one of the largest specialised exhibitions worldwide. Al Tayer said that DEWA attaches great importance to research and development in sustainability and renewable energy, which includes PV solar power and CSP, hydroelectric power, green hydrogen, and more. This supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050, to provide 100% of Dubai’s total power capacity from clean energy sources by 2050. Waleed Bin Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence at DEWA, highlighted that the research papers at the conference focus on a wide range of topics, including unconventional and new concepts for future technologies; silicon photovoltaic materials and devices; Perovskite and organic materials and solar cells; PV module and system reliability in MENA region; solar resources for PV and forecasting; power electronics and grid integration; and all of which are key in accelerating the green energy transformation. Researchers and scientists can still submit their research papers during the late submission period, which ends on 1 August 2023, through this link Tariq Al Fahaam

Source: Emirates News Agency (WAM)

NEW YORK, 16th July, 2023 (WAM) Over the past three years, poverty rates in poor countries have surged, with the number of additional individuals living on less than $3.65-a-day reaching 165 million by 2023 according to a new policy brief from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), titled “The Human Cost of Inaction: Poverty, Social Protection and Debt Servicing, 20202023”. According to the policy brief’s calculations, it would cost little more than US$14 billion, which is approximately 0.009 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product in 2022, to mitigate the current surge of poverty and lift out of poverty the 165 million people living on less than $3.65 a day. This is little less, on average, than four percent of low- and middle-income countries’ public external debt service payments in 2022 which reached $370bn. The entirety of these additional poor live in low – and lower-middle-income economies, with the poorest 20% in low-income countries suffering the most with their incomes still below the pre-pandemic levels in 2023. In response to this crisis, the UNDP is calling for adaptive social protection and a “Debt-Poverty Pause” to redirect debt repayments toward critical social expenditures. Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, said: “Countries that could invest in safety nets over the last three years have prevented a significant number of people from falling into poverty. In highly indebted countries, there is a correlation between high levels of debt, insufficient social spending, and an alarming increase in poverty rates. Today, 46 countries pay more than 10 percent of their general government revenue on net interest payments. Debt servicing is making it increasingly harder for countries to support their populations through investments in health, education and social protection.” “There is a human cost of inaction in not restructuring developing countries’ sovereign debt. We need new mechanisms to anticipate and absorb shocks and make the financial architecture work for the most vulnerable” he added. Over the past decade, debt service payments have steadily been consuming a larger and larger share of public revenue and expenditure in developing economies. As an example, compared to the average high-income country, the latest data suggests that the average low-income country devotes between double and triple the share of revenue or expenditure to servicing interest payments. On average, low-income countries are likely to allocate more than twice as much funding to servicing net interest payments as they do to social assistance, and 1.4 times more than to healthcare. Debt servicing accounts for 60% of education expenditures in these nations. UNDP Chief economist George Gray Molina said: “As interest rates peak in 2023, the international financial system continues to stress the need for ‘temporal and targeted relief to the poor’ affected by the crises. However, highly indebted developing countries have run out of fiscal space for continued debt-financing which translates into a squeeze on social protection and other expenditures. In the absence of credible debt relief, these countries are not able to deliver this ‘temporal and targeted’ support.” The brief that builds on the findings of the UN Crisis Response Group report: A World of Debt, a growing burden to global prosperity” – calls, in the short-run, for a “Debt-Poverty Pause” to redirect debt repayment towards financing social expenditures and countering the effects of macroeconomic shocks. “This systemic addition to the international financial architecture should be triggered automatically, to stabilize free-falls when exogenous shocks shrink developing countries’ fiscal space, bloat their debt servicing and throw households into poverty. This is the beginning of a new adaptive social protection architecture to prepare for a future prone to shocks,” said Molina.

Source: Emirates News Agency (WAM)