Absent crowds, Tokyo Olympics have a shot at being green

July 22, 2021 | 7:28 pm

SINGAPORE — No fans. No snack stands. No tour buses or hotel bookings. To many, this year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics may seem like no fun. But to environmentalists, the pared down approach is exactly what’s needed in a world confronting climate change.

Initially, the Tokyo Organizing Committee had estimated the mega-event would result in emissions of some 2.73 million tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO₂) — more than what the cities of Vancouver or Melbourne reported emitting in all of 2019.

But without the traveling crowds to feed, house and entertain, that carbon footprint will be cut by 12%, to about 2.4 million tons of CO₂, the organizers said in a sustainability report this month.

Combined with efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle, the committee hopes the Games will be among the greenest in recent history.

“The carbon footprint in Tokyo would have risen enormously” had fans been allowed in the stands, said sociologist John Karamichas at Queen’s University in Northern Ireland, who has studied sustainability practices at the Olympics.

Organizers will publish final emissions figures after the Games.

Scientists consider it essential for the world to halve global emissions from 1990 levels by 2030, and to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, to avoid catastrophic climate change. The Tokyo Games will be a reminder of those targets, with forecasters warning of summer temperatures that are set to climb above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) as the Games begin.

While Tokyo’s decision to bar spectators was aimed at minimising coronavirus risks, Karamichas said he hopes the Games sets a minimalist precedent that future Olympics follow.

“From an environmental perspective, there is a concept that small is beautiful,” he said. “This is the direction we are moving in.”

Researchers in April found that sustainability measures generally declined over 16 Summer and Winter Games held between 1992 and 2020, according to an analysis published in the journal Nature Sustainability.

Salt Lake City in 2002 ranked the best, while the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi ranked at the bottom.

The authors suggested downsizing the Olympics and rotating it between the same cities could make the Games more sustainable.

Rio had estimated its 2016 event would result in 3.6 million tons of CO₂ emissions. Four years earlier at the London Olympics, sold-out arenas meant spectators accounted for a third of the 3.3 million tons of CO₂ emitted, organizers said at the time.

Paris in 2017 pledged that the Games it hosts in 2024 will have less than half the carbon footprint of London 2012.

Tokyo is on track to reverse the rising emissions trend, and not just by keeping sports fans at bay.

The athletes’ village is being powered by renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels. Electric vehicles are shuttling people between venues, and materials recycled from discarded electronics have been used to fashion the coveted medals.

In addition, the Tokyo Organising Committee acquired carbon credits worth 5.1 million tons of CO₂ from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s and Saitama Prefecture’s cap-and-trade emissions schemes, which fund emissions-reduction efforts at factories and public buildings in the country.

“The Games must be a space for promoting decarbonization and sustainability,” said Masako Konishi, a conservationist at World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Japan and a member of the Tokyo Games sustainability committee.

“Otherwise, we are just adding to the pressure on the planet.” — Reuters

Osaka to play at US Open; ‘Big Three’ lead men’s field

July 22, 2021 | 7:27 pm

NAOMI Osaka will defend her title at the US Open, organizers said on Wednesday, after she withdrew from this year’s French Open and Wimbledon on mental health grounds.

Japan’s Osaka stunned the tennis world when she quit the claycourt major in Paris in May following her first-round match after being fined and threatened with disqualification when she refused to attend mandatory post-match press conferences.

The world number two, who said she had social anxiety, also skipped Wimbledon but is scheduled to play at the Tokyo Olympics and then in Montreal next month.

Osaka will be part of a women’s field at the US Open that will also include world number one Ash Barty, who lifted her second major title at Wimbledon earlier this month.

A total of 15 major winners, including Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza, are scheduled to feature in the women’s field at Flushing Meadows.

In the men’s section, former champions Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal — currently tied for the men’s record of 20 Grand Slam singles titles — will resume their quest for more silverware in New York.

World number one Djokovic, fresh from his third major triumph of 2020 at Wimbledon, is aiming to become the first man since Australia’s Rod Laver in 1969 to complete a calendar year sweep.

Another former champion, Andy Murray, who is currently ranked 104, failed to make the main draw but remains the first player on the alternate list.

The US Open will be held with 100% fan capacity from Aug. 30 to Sept. 12. — Reuters

He made them…

July 22, 2021 | 7:27 pm

“I made them when I’m supposed to make them” was how Giannis Antetokounmpo, newly minted Most Valuable Player of the 2021 National Basketball Association Finals, described his output from the free throw line in the clincher the other day. To argue that the effort was nothing short of outstanding would be to undervalue it; considering his well-documented woes from the stripe, his 17-of-19 clip — and 12 of 13 in a 33-point second half — spoke volumes of his capacity to deliver in the clutch.

Indeed, Antetokounmpo was the engine that drove the Bucks to their first championship since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) and Oscar Robertson teamed up to claim the hardware half a century ago. True, their defense remained stout. On the other hand, nobody else was clicking at the other end of the court, as their woeful 13-point second quarter underscored. So he “made them when I’m supposed to make them.” And not just from the line. He made them down low. He made them in coverage. He made them from everywhere, and in all types of situations.

By the time the battlesmoke cleared, Antetokounmpo put up a masterpiece that stands among the very best in the annals of the sport. His 50-point production in a closeout victory equaled that of Bob Pettit’s 60 years ago, and he capped his dominance with 14 boards, two dimes, and five swats. Given his determination to succeed in front of an overflow crowd at the Fiserv Forum, the Suns didn’t stand a chance.

Pundits can argue that Antetokounmpo was fated to win. After all, he looked far from ready when the Finals started; he missed the last two contests of the Eastern Conference Finals due to a knee injury, further fueling queries on his readiness, or lack thereof. That the Bucks promptly lost the first two matches served to increase the pressure on him to perform. Once he got his groove, however, there was no stopping him. And while he did get support from such notables as Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, Game Six was all him all the time.

Today, the Bucks are champions, and Antetokounmpo has nothing left to prove. He has come a long way since he was taken with the 15^th pick in the 2013 draft. Questions dotted his campaign to the top, even after he claimed two consecutive MVP awards. Not anymore. Because he “made them when I’m supposed to make them.” Enough said.

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

On Twitter, millennials talk mental health and K-pop

July 22, 2021 | 6:47 pm

Millennials use Twitter to discover new connections, take a stand, and discuss their health. Around 35.2% of Filipinos on Twitter are millennials, of which more than half (or 56%) use the app at least once a day, according to the social media company.

Twitter defines millennials as those between 25 and 38 years old.

Popular cause-related hashtags that Filipino millennials use or follow include #worldmentalhealth, #health, and #adulting, said Martyn U’ren, Twitter’s head of research for the Asia Pacific and Middle East and North African regions, in an e-mail to BusinessWorld.

On a lighter note, millennials also use Twitter to keep tabs on their favorite celebrities. “They are also huge fans of local and international celebrities/personalities like Macoy Dubs, Inka Magnaye, SB19, and even K-pop groups such as BTS and BLACKPINK,” said Mr. U’ren.

Other key insights Twitter revealed are as follows:

Connection – Filipino millennials are on the platform to keep in touch with their friends (77%), conduct work-related networking or research (44%), and find like-minded people (32%). They also keep track of news stories (56%), content such as memes (44%), and trends as they happen (32%).
Expression – Millennials talk about their lives on Twitter, by sharing stories about their pets and random thoughts (49%). They also express opinions and take a stand about the things that matters to them (44%).
Protection – Since more than half of the individuals in this generation are part of the workforce (59.4%), topics on money and finances are top of mind. Nearly three-quarters (or 74%) are optimistic their finances will get better in the next 6 months. Some take action by exploring options to grow or secure both their wealth and future by investing in life (+11% on purchase) and health (39%) insurance. Forty-five percent are upfront talking about mental health.
Consumption – Filipino millennials’ penchant for consuming content has contributed to the rise of new content formats. Seventy-six percent of this age group are into music streaming, 65% like online streaming, another 65% prefer gaming consoles, while 45% are into podcasts.

“Filipino millennials love to talk about products and apps that make their lives more convenient and fun at home,” according to Mr. U’ren. Some of these brands, he said, are Shopee, Netflix PH, Lazada PH, iWant, Dreamscape, PUBG Mobile, Viu, Spotify PH, and iFlix.

“Filipinos have fully embraced streaming as their source of entertainment, and we credit [our] growth to the people who are enjoying the content, sharing their experiences, and encouraging everyone to join in watching the latest series and new-found favorites on Twitter,” added Vinchi S. Quia, operations director of streaming service provider VIU Philippines, in a press statement. — Patricia B. Mirasol

Community solutions address PH plastic problem

July 22, 2021 | 6:40 pm

Communities are taking it upon themselves to tackle the plastic problem. “There is a rampant problem with solid waste, especially plastic waste, despite the presence of laws and ordinances,” said Arcel M. Coton, founder of LIKHAnegosyo, a youth-led Davao City initiative that upcycles plastic waste and promotes eco-friendly products. “The people in our communities regularly encounter lack of segregation and unnecessary garbage disposal.”

Laws such as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, or Republic Act (RA) 9003, espouse the 3 Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle) but they are rarely implemented, said Mr. Coton, at a webinar organized by World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines (WWF-PH) that featured projects addressing plastic pollution.

The event was held in conjunction with Plastic Free July, a global movement geared toward preventing plastics from polluting the environment.

In Donsol, Sorsogon, the local chapter of Kalipunan ng Liping Pilipina (KALIPI) educates mothers, who play an important role in spreading awareness in the community, about recycling.

“Mothers are at the front of all responsibilities. They are the light of the household,” said Wilma D. Arevalo, president of KALIPI’s Donsol chapter, in “We teach them that being responsible with plastic is good for the environment.”

The coastal municipality also holds regular seashore cleanup drives and plastic garbage collection drives, wherein items are properly recycled and sold.

SAVING MARINE LIFE

In San Isidro, Davao Oriental, years of finding dying or dead marine turtles along coastal towns and barangays pushed the municipality to declare war on plastic waste. Their program “Dili Nako Sa Plastik,” focused on plastic recovery and recycling, even preceded their membership in WWF-PH’s Plastic Smart Cities, a knowledge-sharing platform on plastics.

“We embalmed and preserved the dead sea turtles for display so that the youth and the rest of the community are aware [of] what happens when plastic is left to pollute the waters,” said Justina Buenviaje-Yu, the Municipal Mayor of San Isidro.

A 2021 environmental study by the World Bank Group estimated that around 0.75 million metric tons of mismanaged plastic enters the ocean every year, making the Philippines the third largest contributor in the world. This much plastic is capable of killing many sea creatures, which in turn negatively affects entire marine ecosystems.

One such ecosystem is the coral reef, which a local resort in Samal, Davao Del Norte, has been protecting for decades. “Paradise Reef is 144 meters of rich coral reef. We have a team to make sure that the reef, the beach, and the shoreline is religiously maintained and cleaned,” said Julian L. Rodriguez III, pollution control managing head of Paradise Island Park and Beach Resort.

Whether it’s collecting, segregating, or properly disposing of plastics, their thrust has been to be transparent with guests about waste management. However, a large amount of trash in the sea is brought in by the currents from the nearby City of Davao, according to Mr. Rodriguez.

PLASTIC IN THE METRO

With large cities being a major generator of any form of waste, the burden of coming up with effective plastic waste management programs is greater on local government units in metropolitan areas.

Manila has #LinISKOmaynila, which consists of teams that pick up trash and clean water bodies to reduce plastics floating out to sea. The project covers Roxas Boulevard, Baseco Beach, and various canals throughout Manila.

“Apart from cleanup efforts, we also have our waste diversion initiatives in partnership with different private sectors, to stop the flow of plastic pollution in the country,” said Joanna Mae D. Norcio, assistant chief of the operations division of the Department of Public Services in Manila City.

There’s “Kolek Kilo Kita” where Manila residents sell clean, dry plastics to accredited junk shops for 3 pesos per kilo; and “AlasKalikasan Wrapper Redemption Project,” where citizens exchange three kilos of plastic for 165 grams of Alaska fortified milk.

Meanwhile, a plastic recycling machine donated in April by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has allowed the Manila LGU to make chairs from soft plastics. Ms. Norcio says the system will be fully operational in three months.

Czarina Constantino-Panopio, national lead of WWF-PH’s No Plastics in Nature initiative, applauded these efforts and acknowledged that the change in attitudes toward plastic waste will be gradual but good in the long run. “The beauty of this project really is its heart, which is striving to create a balance between humans and nature,” she said. — Brontë H. Lacsamana

China rejects WHO plan for study of COVID-19 origin

July 22, 2021 | 4:40 pm

W020180117375032604991 — Image via Wuhan Institute of Virology website

BEIJING — China rejected on Thursday a World Health Organization (WHO) plan for a second phase of an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, which includes the hypothesis it could have escaped from a Chinese laboratory, a top health official said.

The WHO this month proposed a second phase of studies into the origins of the coronavirus in China, including audits of laboratories and markets in the city of Wuhan, calling for transparency from authorities.

“We will not accept such an origins-tracing plan as it, in some aspects, disregards common sense and defies science,” Zeng Yixin, vice minister of the National Health Commission (NHC), told reporters.

Mr. Zeng said he was taken aback when he first read the WHO plan because it lists the hypothesis that a Chinese violation of laboratory protocols had caused the virus to leak during research.

The head of the WHO said earlier in July that investigations into the origins of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in China were being hampered by the lack of raw data on the first days of spread there.

Mr. Zeng reiterated China’s position that some data could not be completely shared due to privacy concerns.

“We hope the WHO would seriously review the considerations and suggestions made by Chinese experts and truly treat the origin tracing of the COVID-19 virus as a scientific matter, and get rid of political interference,” Mr. Zeng said.

China opposed politicising the study, he said.

The origin of the virus remains contested among experts.

The first known cases emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. The virus was believed to have jumped to humans from animals being sold for food at a city market.

In May, US President Joseph R. Biden. Jr., ordered aides to find answers to questions over the origin saying that US intelligence agencies were pursuing rival theories potentially including the possibility of a laboratory accident in China.

Mr. Zeng, along with other officials and Chinese experts at the news conference, urged the WHO to expand origin-tracing efforts beyond China to other countries.

“We believe a lab leak is extremely unlikely and it is not necessary to invest more energy and efforts in this regard,” said Liang Wannian, the Chinese team leader on the WHO joint expert team. More animal studies should be conducted, in particular in countries with bat populations, he said.

However, Mr. Liang said the lab leak hypothesis could not be entirely discounted but suggested that if evidence warranted, other countries could look into the possibility it leaked from their labs.

One key part of the lab leak theory has centered on the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s (WIV) decision to take offline its gene sequence and sample databases in 2019.

When asked about this decision, Yuan Zhiming, professor at WIV and the director of its National Biosafety Laboratory, told reporters that at present the databases were only shared internally due to cyber-attack concerns. — Gabriel Crossley/Reuters

Facebook decided faith groups are good for business. Now, it wants your prayers

July 22, 2021 | 4:36 pm

Facebook has long sought your attention. In recent weeks, it has started asking for your prayers as well in a new tool now available for US Facebook Groups.

The prayer feature is part of Facebook’s recent and concerted outreach to the religious community, which it is speaking about in detail to media for the first time. Facebook sees worshippers as a vital community to drive engagement on the world’s largest social media platform. As early as 2017, CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited churches as one example in a lengthy manifesto on connecting the world and the company created a team focused on “faith partnerships.”

COVID gave new urgency to the efforts, Facebook’s head of faith partnerships Nona Jones told Reuters in an interview. The new prayers product was spun up after the company saw an increase in people asking each other for prayers during the pandemic, said Ms. Jones, who is also a pastor in Florida.

The outreach culminated in the company holding its first virtual faith summit with religious leaders last month. During the live event broadcast on Facebook Live where the company played videos with heart emojis floating across the screen as religious leaders ministered to their congregations, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg discussed a future where leaders engaged worshippers with virtual reality tools and augmented reality.

At the end of May, Facebook made its prayer tool, which it had been testing with some faith communities, accessible for all US Facebook Groups to turn on. In one private Group seen by Reuters, a woman used the tool to request prayers for an aunt sick with coronavirus. People replied by clicking a button to say “I prayed,” and their names were counted underneath. Users could choose to be notified with a reminder to pray again tomorrow. Others requested prayers for a daughter’s broken heart, a son’s driving test and problems with an insurance company.

Ms. Jones confirmed prayer posts are used to personalize ads on Facebook, like other content. A spokesperson said the data could feed into how Facebook’s machine learning systems decide which ads to show users. Advertisers will not be able to directly target ads based on the content of the prayer or use of the feature, the person said. The spokesperson also said prayer tool use would not be factored into the categories that ad buyers already use to slice up Facebook audiences based on a demonstrated interest in topics, like “faith,” or “Catholic Church.”

“One of the biggest communities using Facebook products to connect are people of faith,” said outgoing Facebook app head Fidji Simo, in a fireside chat at the summit, following panels with religious leaders and a session for spiritual breathwork, a breathing and meditation exercise.

“When I looked at the data of what was taking off during the pandemic, we were seeing massive growth in the spiritual category.”

Early in the pandemic, Facebook sent “starter kits” of equipment like small tripods and phone holders to faith groups for live-streaming and shooting content as places of worship closed down. It launched a faith resources website with e-learning courses and quizzes on best practices, touting that “the people your house of worship wants to reach are on Facebook platforms already.”

This year, it has started up an Interfaith Advisory Council to hold regular meetings with faith leaders and educators. As well as consulting religious leaders — who told Reuters their wish lists for the site included church planning tools and emojis showing more diverse forms of worship — Facebook has been picking the brains of organizations already running large online faith platforms like evangelical megachurch Life.Church, pastor Kyle Kutter said.

MIXED RECEPTION
While many religious leaders who spoke to Reuters welcomed Facebook’s attention in a year when their communities were forced to stay at home, some Group users cited concerns over the privacy of prayer posts, questioning how their spiritual activities could be exploited online, or said they found it clinical.

Simcha Fisher, a member of a Catholic women’s Facebook Group, said she had only seen the prayer post used by friends who noted it felt “icky.” Her friend had compared Facebook to an overbearing parent getting involved in interactions occurring naturally on the platform: “Anytime Facebook rolls out something new, you know it’s because they’re hoping to make money off it … to eventually sell you something, somehow,” Ms. Fisher said.

Some religious leaders and Group members said they wanted to see the same level of commitment Facebook had shown in launching prayers to dealing with abuse targeted at their communities on the site. Khizer Subhani, who runs a Facebook Group for Muslims in the Bay Area which was given early access to the prayers feature, said he welcomed the company’s focus but weighed it against his frustrations over Facebook’s handling of hate speech around religious groups on the platform.

For Facebook, which faces attacks from global regulators and lawmakers, including over its track record of failing to curb harmful content like violent rhetoric and vaccine misinformation, connecting the faithful during a global pandemic is the kind of application it says it wants to double down on. Faith communities represent “the best of Facebook and we hope to keep it that way, now and in the future,” Ms. Sandberg said at the Summit. — Elizabeth Culliford/Reuters

Pag-IBIG Fund finances 10,640 homes for low-wage earners in H1 2021, up 99%

July 22, 2021 | 3:57 pm

Pag-IBIG Fund extended socialized housing loans to 10,640 members from the
minimum-wage and low-income sectors in the first half of 2021 despite the
continuing pandemic, top officials announced Wednesday (July 21).

The number of socialized home loans make up 24% of the total 43,573 home loans
released by the agency from January to June this year. The number is equivalent to
P4.66 billion or 11% of the P44.34 billion home loans released by the agency during
the first half of the year. Amid the health crisis, the number of socialized home
loans increased by 99% – nearly double the 5,357 socialized home loans granted
during the same period last year, while the amount released also grew by 111%
from P2.21 billion in 2020.

“We believe that home ownership is a right of every Filipino family. With the
Affordable Housing Program of Pag-IBIG Fund, achieving the dream of
homeownership is made possible especially for minimum-wage workers . The
program’s lowest rates and longest term allow our members from the low-income
sector to buy or build a home of their own. This is our way of adhering to President
Rodrigo Duterte’s call for government institutions to carry out programs that
address the needs of the underserved sector,” said Secretary Eduardo D. del
Rosario, Chairperson of the 11-member Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees and
Secretary of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development
(DHSUD).

The agency’s Affordable Housing Program (AHP) is designed for members who earn
up to P15,000 a month within the National Capital Region (NCR) and members who
earn up to P12,000 per month outside the NCR. Under the AHP, Pag-IBIG Fund
offers a subsidized rate of 3% per annum for socialized home loans up to P580,000.
Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said that the 3% rate
offered by Pag-IBIG Fund is the lowest in the market, and has been made available
to eligible members since May 2017.

“During this difficult time, Pag-IBIG Fund’s Affordable Housing Program has
become the means to support our low-income members in helping them acquire
their own homes. Because we are exempt from tax under our Charter, Pag-IBIG
Fund can afford to offer the lowest rates for the home loans of minimum and low-wage workers.
Aside from keeping our interest rates low, we also reduced its
insurance premiums, which keeps the monthly amortization at an affordable
P2,445.30 for a socialized home loan of up to P580,000. And what’s more, qualified
borrowers will never have to put out cash for equity under the program. All of these
are part of our efforts to provide the best home financing program for our members
who earn minimum wage,” Moti said.

Nano-influencer platform to use $5 mln funding to strengthen operations in SEA, including PHL

July 22, 2021 | 3:28 pm

Partipost, a nano-influencer marketing and commerce platform, received extended funding on their series A round, with investments totaling $5 million. The funds will be used to accelerate product and market expansion in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, where its app launched this month.

The Singapore-based startup’s oversubscribed round was led by venture capital firm Quest Ventures, with participation from existing investor SPH Ventures, and new investors iGlobe Partners and XA Network.

Jeffrey Seah, a partner from Quest Ventures, will join Partipost’s board as director. He was previously a board observer from Quest Ventures’ earlier investment in the platform.

“They [Partipost’s founders] have balanced the need to recruit brand-safe nano influencers that resonate with commercial partners, and simultaneously pitch to and onboard business partners looking for authentic direct-to-customer relationships… increasing contribution to sales,” Mr. Seah said in a press statement.

WORD-OF-MOUTH
Partipost matches brands to influencers with the highest brand affinity to drive word-of-mouth advertising. Data insights are collected through its in-app polls and user behavior.

Partiposters, as the platform’s users are called, view and participate in campaigns via the platform’s mobile app. Influencers are rewarded for both their media reach and message impact in their curated social media content, as determined by their followers’ responses.

According to Hillary Tam, Partipost’s head of marketing, the platform’s main difference is that it believes everyone can be an influencer.

“Even if you have 200 followers, you can be one,” she told BusinessWorld in an e-mail interview. “We want to create a new market [where] everybody can post on social media, write a review, or give some feedback and be paid for it. We want to empower everyone to monetize their own data and influence and not just allow the big tech companies to do so.”

Partipost saw a threefold increase year-on-year in the total number of influencers during the pandemic, as the crisis highlighted the need for businesses to build a strong presence online. In the Philippines, where its app was launched at the beginning of July, the platform has garnered more than 4,000 Partiposters.

“In terms of notable Filipino influencers, our niche is in nano influencers, the everyday people, so I wouldn’t say there’s a specific notable influencer,” Ms. Tam added.

Two new initiatives — the Nano Ambassador and Mass Campaign programs — have also been rolled out to help brands with brand awareness, sales, and scale. Some of Partipost’s client brands include Pepsi, Dettol, The Body Shop, Jinro, and Hong Kong Maxim.

Influencer Marketing Hub, in its The State of Influencer Marketing 2021 report, said that the influencer marketing industry is set to grow to approximately $13.8 billion this year. Seventy-five percent of brands also indicated in the report their intent to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing in 2021. — Patricia B. Mirasol

From China to Germany, floods expose climate vulnerability

July 22, 2021 | 3:16 pm

Residents wade through floodwaters amid heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China July 20. — CHINA DAILY VIA REUTERS

Deadly floods that have upended life in both China and Germany have sent a stark reminder that climate change is making weather more extreme across the globe.

At least 25 people in the central Chinese province of Henan died on Tuesday, including a dozen trapped in a city subway as waters tore through the regional capital of Zhengzhou after days of torrential rain.

Coming after floods killed at least 160 people in Germany and another 31 in Belgium last week, the disaster has reinforced the message that significant changes will have to be made to prepare for similar events in future.

“Governments should first realize that the infrastructure they have built in the past or even recent ones are vulnerable to these extreme weather events,” said Eduardo Araral, associate professor and co-director, Institute of Water Policy, at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

In Europe, climate change is likely to increase the number of large, slow-moving storms that can linger longer in one area and deliver deluges of the kind seen in Germany and Belgium, according to a study published June 30 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

As the atmosphere warms with climate change, it also holds more moisture, which means that when rainclouds break, more rain is released. By the end of the century, such storms could be 14 times more frequent, the researchers found in the study using computer simulations.

While the inundation that devastated wide swathes of western and southern Germany occurred thousands of kilometres from the events in Henan, both cases highlighted the vulnerability of heavily populated areas to catastrophic flooding and other natural disasters.

“You need technical measures, bolstering dikes and flood barriers. But we also need to remodel cities,” said Fred Hattermann at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. He said there was increasing focus on so-called “green-adaptation” measures, like polders and plains that can be flooded, to stop water running off too fast.

“But when there’s really heavy rain, all that may not help, so we have to learn to live with it,” he said.

Reinforcing dikes and climate-proofing housing, roads and urban infrastructure will cost billions. But the dramatic mobile phone footage of people struggling through subways submerged in chest-deep water in Zhengzhou or crying in fear as mud and debris swept through medieval German towns made clear the cost of doing nothing.

“It is shocking and I have to say it is scary,” said John Butschkowski, a Red Cross driver who was involved in rescue work in western Germany this week. “It is ghostly, no people anywhere, just rubbish. And it is inconceivable that this is happening in Germany.”

ONE YEAR’S RAINFALL IN THREE DAYS
Koh Tieh-Yong, a weather and climate scientist at Singapore University of Social Sciences, said an overall assessment of rivers and water systems would be needed in areas vulnerable to climate change, including cities and farmlands.

“Floods usually occur due to two factors combined: one, heavier-than-normal rainfall and two, insufficient capacity of rivers to discharge the additional rainwater collected,” he said.

In both China and northwestern Europe, the disasters followed a period of unusually heavy rain, equivalent in the Chinese case to a year’s rainfall being dumped in just three days, that completely overwhelmed flood defences.

After several severe floods over recent decades, buffers had been strengthened along major German rivers like the Rhine or the Elbe but last week’s extreme rainfall also turned minor tributaries like the Ahr or the Swist into fearsome torrents.

In China, built-up urban areas with inadequate water evacuation and large dams that modified the natural discharge of the Yellow River basin may also have contributed to the disaster, scientists said.

But measures such as improving the resilience of buildings and raising riverbanks and improving drainage are unlikely to be enough on their own to avert the effects of severe flooding. As a last resort, warning systems, which were heavily criticized in Germany for leaving people insufficient time to react, will have to be improved.

“It really needs to be embedded in practical knowledge that people have so they know what to do,” said Christian Kuhlicke, head of a working group on environmental risks and extreme events at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research.

“If you can’t keep the water back, if you can’t save your buildings then at least make sure that all vulnerable people are moved out of these places.” — Aradhana Aravindan and James Mackenzie/Reuters

Delta variant taking hold of Indonesia’s Papua as hospitals near capacity

July 22, 2021 | 2:52 pm

JAKARTA — Hospitals in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua are nearing full capacity amid a surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, with health officials bracing for the full impact of the virulent Delta variant on one of the country’s least-developed areas.

The bed occupancy rate at some hospitals in Papua province had reached 100%, with emergency units and tents being used to treat COVID-19 patients, Dr. Aaron Rumainum, head of the Papua health agency’s disease control and prevention unit, said.

“We have the same problem as Java. Isolation rooms are full and there is a lack of oxygen,” he told Reuters, adding the Delta variant, first identified in India, had now been detected in the province.

Indonesia is in the throes of a raging coronavirus epidemic, with shortages of hospital beds and oxygen reported across the capital Jakarta, and other parts of densely populated Java island — a situation now fanning out to less developed regions.

Across Papua province the bed occupancy rate was about 57% but in the provincial capital of Jayapura it was more than 96%, said Silwanus Sumule, COVID-19 taskforce spokesperson and deputy director of the Jayapura General Hospital (RSUD).

There were currently 47 people waiting in the corridors, unable to get a room, he said.

“Maybe 47 isn’t a lot in places like Java, but it’s really big here,” he said. “We’ve never experienced this before, placing patients in corridors like that.”

Indonesia’s Papuan region, divided into the two provinces of West Papua and Papua, has poorly equipped health facilities and low vaccination rates, leaving it dangerously exposed to the virus.

“Before COVID, there was already endemic disease in Papua that was not well handled, such as malaria and tuberculosis, let alone this emergency situation,” said Adriana Elisabeth, a political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) who researches Papua.

“If the government does not restrict mobility, the healthcare system will certainly collapse.”

BLOCKADING PAPUA
Earlier this week, Papua Governor Lukas Enembe said he was considering blocking access in and out of the province to curb the spread of COVID-19, according to media reports.

A spokesperson for the governor was not immediately available for comment.

Based on data from Indonesia’s ministry of health, Papua has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with less than 6% of people fully vaccinated, while positivity rates have surpassed 31%.

Activists say vaccination levels have remained stubbornly low in part because some indigenous Papuans distrust the central government, while nurses in the region say disinformation about the pandemic is rampant.

Adding to the complexity of a health response, a low-level insurgency for Papuan independence has simmered for decades and many may be wary of cooperating with authorities particularly if security forces are involved.

Indonesia has reported more than 2.9 million coronavirus cases and 77,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, with an accelerating caseload and high death rate making the country the current epicentre of Asia’s outbreak. Public health experts say the true number of infections is likely several times higher.

Indonesia’s death rate from COVID-19 was more than three times the global rate as of July 20, based on Our World in Data figures.

This week, President Joko Widodo announced that existing social restrictions would be extended until July 25, but could be eased if infections dropped. — Agustinus Beo Da Costa/Reuters

Social audio app Clubhouse is no longer invite-only

July 22, 2021 | 2:16 pm

Live audio app Clubhouse has removed its invite system so that anyone can join the platform, it said on Wednesday.

The social app, which saw explosive early growth during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, previously required people to be invited by an existing user or request to join a waitlist. It said in a blog post that it had always planned to open up the app but that invites had been a way of tempering user numbers.

Clubhouse faces new competition from social media companies, including Facebook, Twitter, as well as streaming company Spotify, which have launched similar audio chat services.

“We know there will be many more ups and downs as we scale, and competition from the large networks will be fierce,” the company wrote in its post.

Clubhouse said it had added 10 million people since launching on Android in May.

Estimates from analytics firm Sensor Tower found the app had reached about 7.8 million global installs in June, up from 3.7 million the previous month.

The company, which said its team had expanded since January from 8 to 58 people, launched a direct messaging feature last week. — Elizabeth Culliford/Reuters

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