Strategic Analysis and Research by the
cenSEI
CENTER FOR STRATEGY, ENTERPRISE & INTELLIGENCE
T H E
The economic and monetary union is finally walking on two legs ~ European Council President Herman Van Rompuy on newly signed euro zone fiscal agreement
Report
There’s always the risk of one crisis hiding another, but I believe we are turning a page ~ French President Nicholas Sarcozy on March 2 signing
Volume 2 - Number 9 • March 5-11, 2012
We remain in a fragile situation. The crisis is not totally overcome ~ German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the 25-nation pact
4 The Specter of Hunger
WORLD
The United Nations estimates nearly a billion people on the planet lack food. And the hunger pangs may get worse if food prices resume their climb. What’s needed: safety nets and investment, investment, investment • Indexing empty stomachs: The Global Hunger Index counts starving children as the key barometer for the prevalence and impact of hunger on nations
NATION
14 The Sad Plight of the Working Child
BUSINESS
24 Is Your Job Stressing You Out?
Due to poverty and policy gaps, one in every 15 Filipino children are expending their youth and their futures making a buck for their families • The worst places to be a kid: In the pits of an international consultant's child-labor-risk assessment
The world economy is tanking, your bottom line is flattening, and your blood pressure is soaring. Here are the ways to deal with the pressure • The anatomy of stress: What happens to your body when worries mount • Under pressure: The mental strain that comes with letting stress have its way • Good in moderation: How to turn the tension into a positive force
31 To Mine or Not to Mine: The P14-Trillion Question
Malacañang rethinks a controversial executive order after mining companies and environmentalists cross swords over the industry’s future • Buried treasure: The Philippines’ immense mineral wealth
TECHNOLOGY
CONTENTS
36 Green Is the Color of Money
As the world invests in clean air, pure water, protected species and smaller carbon footprints, the fastest-growing jobs are found in environmental services • Help wanted: Where to find green positions — and diplomas — in the Philippines • The green pages: Let your fingers do the clicking to an earthfriendly job • The top ten: Farming, forestry and energy are among the hot jobs in the 2010s
WORLD
NATION
BUSINESS
POINT & CLICK You can access online research via the Internet by clicking phrases in blue
TECHNOLOGY
Center for Strategy, Enterprise & Intelligence provides expertise in strategy and management, enterprise development, intelligence, Internet and media. For subscriptions, research, and advisory services, please e-mail report@censeisolutions.com or call/fax +63-2-5311182. Links to online material on public websites are current as of the week prior to the publication date, but might be removed without warning. Publishers of linked content should e-mail us or contact us by fax if they do not wish their websites to be linked to our material in the future.
Let’s Always Remember: It Isn’t Just the Money While The CenSEI Report strives to elucidate a wide variety of concerns with hard-nosed facts and figures, at the heart of every article is a fundamental principle: the primacy of human advancement in all facets, from material to ethereal. That means making sure every bone of contention, financial or environmental, social or technological, local or international, is fleshed out in the many ways it affects the individual, the family, and the entire society. Hence, as often mouthed in the movies, it isn’t just about the money. To be sure, in every CenSEI story there is a perennial focus on the cold data of costs and benefits, profit and loss, pluses and minuses. But those numbers make sense only insofar as they provide the direction and wherewithal to achieve the goals of humankind: peace, justice, happiness, enlightenment, and harmony with the world and one’s fellow human beings. When the bottom line clashes with those fundamental values, then it’s time to recalculate the equation and put what’s truly important up front. Take this week’s articles. The lead story on stress in the workplace is a timely and telling reminder in these days of mounting worries over the global economy and intensifying business competition, that it does not profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose his sanity. The other Business section story about the controversy over mining rightly stresses the paramount importance of safeguarding the national patrimony for future generations even as the present one seeks to benefit from nature’s bounty. The World article on debilitating hunger amid volatile food prices again marries undeniable numbers — grain price spikes and a billion near-empty stomachs — with unimpeachable priorities: putting enough food on the table all across the planet to ensure that people don’t kill to eat and children have enough sustenance for health and intelligence today and tomorrow. Speaking of children, the Nation section banners a disturbing but must-read article on child labor in the country, which burdens one in every 15 Filipino youths. Sure, the Philippines isn’t as bad as the top ten global offenders listed in the report. But that statistical factoid offers little comfort to the barefoot kid missing years of school and play to toil in a dark, damp mine or beg along smoky, congested streets. Perhaps the best story to demonstrate how The CenSEI Report combines lofty values with the bottom line is Technology’s piece on green jobs. Yes, there is money in keeping the earth clean, cool and biodiverse. After all, if the world goes to pot, it wouldn’t be worth a penny.
4
WORLD
cenSEI T H E
Report Number of undernourished people in the world,1967-71 to 2010
The Specter of Hunger Returns With a billion people not eating enough, food prices are creeping up again
1969-71 1979-81 1990-92 1995-97
By Ricardo Saludo
STRATEGY POINTS The January upsurge in global food costs, after a half-year respite, may signal the start of another price spiral — and more hunger ahead With more and richer people, rising biofuel demand, and the ravages of increasingly destructive weather, inflation will not abate anytime soon To fight hunger, ready safety nets for the poor, avoid food export bans, and boost investment, research and infrastructure for the edibles sector
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NATION
The Hunger Games, a science-fiction movie opening this month, is set in some apocalyptic future when food is scarce and people are entertained by youths fighting to survive in the harsh land. Sadly, that fictional tale may ring all too true in many parts of the world today. For nearly a billion people across the planet, including close to 600 million in Asia and the Pacific, there is not enough food on the table to be healthy and hearty. As estimated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in its The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2010 report, 925 million men, women and children are malnourished (see charts above). And that’s already down from the billion-plus 2009 level,
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The specter of hunger returns
WHERE THE HUNGRY ARE Undernourishment in 2010, by region (million) Millions 1,050 1,000
2009
950
Asia and the Pacific 578 Developed Countries 19
Sub-Saharan Africa 239
2008
2000-02
Near East and North Africa 37
2010
2005-07
900 850 800 750
Latin America and the Caribbean 53
Charts from The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2010, Food & Agricultures Oraganization
when a global recession slashed jobs and incomes worldwide. According to hunger and poverty data compiled in 2010 by online writer Anup Singh of globalissues.org, about 1.2 billion people suffer from hunger, and between 2 billion and 3.5 billion lack vitamins and minerals (another 1.2 billion are obese). All that hunger and malnutrition lead to medical costs totaling $30 billion a year, or about three quarters of this year’s national budget. And most tragic of all, 9 million of our fellow human beings die from lack of food — 1,027 deaths an hour or 17 a minute — most of them children. In the Philippines, for all the government chest-thumping over bumper crops and
The
falling rice imports, hunger incidence rose in the Fourth Quarter 2011 Social Weather Stations hunger survey in December, afflicting 22.5% or 4.5 million Filipinos. That brought last year’s average incidence to 19.1%, higher than the 18.5% mean in 2008, when global and local cereal prices skyrocketed. Where are prices headed? Since July there has been some relief from the 2011 food price spiral. But this January the FAO reported the first rise in its food price index in half a year. “Prices of all the commodity groups in the index registered gains ... with oils increasing the most, followed closely by cereals, sugar, dairy products and meat,” the U.N. agency said. In the agency’s Asia update last month, a cereal chart showed
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that Thai rice export prices were up 72% for the regular B variety and 110% for A1 Super since mid-2010.
like the U.S. could switch farmland to pricier, more lucrative crops, reducing palay supply. And when rice itself jumps in price, exporting nations may again exacerbate scarcity by curbing shipments.
While the FAO index was 7% down from a year ago, in real terms, overall costs remain above their levels in 2008 (see yellow line in chart below), when many countries including the Philippines suffered soaring food costs. Back then, the Arroyo Administration launched the FIELDS
As of late last year, the world cereals market was stable though still tight, and rice was least worrisome, with the 2011-12 global harvest forecast up 3.4% to a record 482
FOOD PRICES ON THE RISE FAO Food Price Index
2002-2004=100 250 210 0 170 0 130 0 90 0 50
90 91
92 93
94
95 96
97
98 99 00
01
02
03 04
05 06
07
08
09 10
11 12
*The real price index is the nominal price index deflated by the World Bank Manufacturers Unit Value Index (MUV) Source: Food and Agriculture Organization Food Price Index
program to achieve rice self-sufficiency in five years, which looks set to sharply reduce imports of the staple by 2013. Speaking to Bloomberg News at the height of last year’s food price spiral, FAO grains economist Abdolreza Abbassian cited spillover effects by which inflation in wheat and corn could spill over to less volatile rice. For one thing, when other cereals become unaffordable, people by the millions could consume more rice, pushing up demand and costs. Another fear: rice cultivators in temperate countries
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million tons. That’s the view from the FAO’s latest Food Outlook update in November. World production of all cereals is also projected to grow 3.7% to 2,325 million tons. Global stocks are tipped to exceed 500 million tons, up over the previous year, but still below the 2009-10 grain reserve. In the Outlook’s Market Assessments section starting on page 11 of the 186-page briefing, the prognosis is “uncertainty dominating rice markets.” Despite bumper harvests in most countries, export quotes are up for all varieties, spurred by Bangkok’s new policy, announced last
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The specter of hunger returns
October, to raise the government buying price for unmilled rice by half, as the BBC reported.
countries, nearly three times the proportion in other developing nations and more than twice the ratio in China and India.
Why food crises persist. More than rising prices, however, what worries FAO more are the protracted food crises in the poorest countries — and how they are rooted in problems that have more to do with governance than crop production and costs. The agency’s 2010 report cited five
While the Philippines does not suffer from prolonged food problems, it has depressed areas where most, if not all of the same five factors of protracted crisis have kept people hungry for decades. Addressing those governance failings are made even more urgent by the looming return of global food
U.N. food agency frets over prices: Rice could spike if exporters again curb shipments
conditions, most of which are shared by crisis nations like Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan: decades of distress, civil conflict, weak governance, unsustainable livelihood systems, and breakdown of local institutions. With those five dysfunctions getting in the way, protracted-crisis countries, unlike other nations, do not have the resilience to return to the long-term development trajectory after acute disasters strike. No wonder then that the undernourished make up 37% of the population in those
The
Bloomberg video
inflation and supply constraints, as noted in The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2011 published a year later. “High and volatile food prices are likely to continue,” the FAO report warns. Reasons: world population growth, expanding use of crops for biofuel, and rising demand from fast-growing, more and more affluent economies, led by Asian ones. Along with these factors, another 2011 paper, “Securitising Food Futures in the Asia-Pacific” by Australian National University professor Lorraine Elliott,
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8 listed others pushing up prices over the long term: 1) Increasingly unpredictable farm conditions due to climate change, drought and changes in rainfall 2) Overfishing with too much investment in
fishing, new technologies, and illegal fishing 3) Deterioration of river systems due to pollution, agricultural runoff, and dams 4) Reduced investment in agriculture 5) Corrupt over-importation and hoarding of food, leading to rotting stocks 6) Falling household incomes due to the
WHO'S WINNING THE WAR ON HUNGER WORLD Region/subregion/ country
Total population 2006-08
Number of people undernourished 199092
200002
200608
(millions)
Change so far
Progress towards WFS target
Proportion of undernourished in total population 199092
200002
(%)
200608
Change so far
(%)
Eastern Asia
1,410.8
215.6
141.8
139.4
-35.3
18
10
10
-44
China
1,336.5
210.0
132.8
129.6
-38.3
18
10
10
-46
Dem. Peopl's Rep. of Korea
23.7
4.2
7.8
8.4
99.6
21
34
35
72
Mongolia
2.6
0.6
0.l6
0.7
11.4
28
27
27
-5
Republic of Korea
48.0
ns
ns
ns
na
-
-
-
na
Eastern Asia excluding China
74.3
5.5
9.0
9.8
77.1
8
13
13
57
1,642.8
267.5
307.9
330.1
23.4
22
21
20
-8
157.7
44.4
42.3
41.4
-6.8
38
30
26
-30
1,164.6
177.0
208.0
224.6
29.9
20
21
19
-4
Iran (islamic Republic of)
72.4
ns
ns
ns
na
-
-
-
na
Nepal
28.3
4.2
4.6
4.7
13.3
21
18
17
-22
Pakistan
173.2
29.5
36.3
42.8
45.0
25
24
25
-1
Sri Lanka
19.9
4.8
3.9
3.9
-18.4
28
20
20
-28
Southern Asia excluding India
478.1
90.5
99.9
105.5
16.7
26
23
22
-16
South-Eastern Asia
564.0
105.8
89.6
77.4
-26.9
24
17
14
-42
Cambodia
14.3
3.8
3.8
3.6
-4.5
38
29
25
-33
Indonesia
224.7
28.9
30.4
29.7
2.9
16
15
13
-17
Lao People's Dem. Rep.
6.1
1.3
1.4
1.4
3.1
31
26
22
-27
Malaysia
26.6
ns
ns
ns
na
-
-
-
na
Philippines
88.7
15.3
14.6
11.8
-22.9
24
18
13
-44
Thailand
67.0
15.0
11.5
10.7
-28.9
26
18
16
-39
Viet Nam
86.1
21.0
13.3
9.6
-54.5
31
17
11
-64
Southern Asia Bangladesh India
Progress towards MDG target
Charts from The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2011, Food & Agriculture Organization
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The specter of hunger returns
global economic downturn 7) Rising prices of farm inputs like fertiliser and diesel fuel. How higher costs hit the poor. The ups and downs of prices, adds the agency, “makes both smallholder farmers and poor consumers increasingly vulnerable to poverty.” Food makes up such a big chunk of both crop earnings and low-income budgets. Hence, price dips hit producers badly, while leaps pull borderline families below the poverty line. Moreover, for subsistence farmers, higher prices do not translate into more earnings, since these cultivators do not sell much of their harvest but have to buy food they don’t raise at higher cost.
translated into a 10% increase in Asian costs. In a chapter on how global prices are transmitted to local costs, part of the ADB’s “Global Food Inflation and Developing Asia” report, published in 2010, a global rice price increase of 16.8% early last year triggered leaps of as much as 21% in populous Indonesia and Bangladesh, and 36.7% in grain-exporting Vietnam (Philippines: -0.9%, thanks to subsidies). How much would the hikes affect families? The same chapter lists the average proportion of household spending going to food in developing Asia: from about a third in China and Thailand to nearly half in India, Sri Lanka and the Philipines.
FAO agriculture economics director Kostas Stimulus: Hunger forces the poor to sell their meager assets Fao video
The Asian Development Bank’s April 2011 fact sheet on food inflation notes that poor families in the region spend more than 60% of their household budgets on food. Hence, every 10% rise in prices of edibles would push 64 million Asians — equivalent to about two-thirds of the Philippine population — below the poverty line of living on $1.25 a day. A year ago, 30% global food inflation
The
The ADB’s 30-page paper also explained that a similar 30% rise in oil prices combined with last year’s food inflation could slash 1.5 percentage points off economic growth rates. That’s the difference between decent 4% global expansion and the historical norm of 2.5% for recession. If that happens, the poor, already burdened by higher living costs, could also lose income or livelihood. And
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10 with petroleum products already up sharply over the past year, the uptick in world food costs early this year cannot but stir worries over the ADB’s growth-cutting scenario.
earning capacity. Thus, the FAO study’ concludes: “Large short-term price changes can have long-term impacts on development.”
Tragically, the impact of malnutrition goes beyond one year if, as happens to tens of millions of the poor, unaffordable edibles deprive pregnant women and babies of nutrients needed for brain development in pregnancy and early childhood. Undernourished children grow up mentally impaired for life, reducing their lifetime
Indeed, said Kostas Stamoulis, director of FAO’s development economics division, in his remarks on the 2011 food insecurity report, children can suffer “long-term physical and mental handicaps.” Moreover, poor families “sell their assets or cut down on medical or education expenditure,” further harming the future livelihood,
Indexing empty stomachs “The dogs of hunger are not dead: some are sleeping, others are biting.” So began the 2011 Global Hunger Index report published last October by the International Food Policy Research Institute. For all the dramatic turn of phrase, Washington-based IFPRI is steeped in cold, hard facts and figures, including its Global Hunger Index (GHI). The institute blames food inflation in recent years on biofuel demand, commodity futures trading, and increasingly IFPRI: The best way to gauge hunger is its destructive weather. But its GHI measures impact on impact on children IFPRI video families. First, Undernourishment, the percentage of the population with insufficient calorie intake. Second, Child Underweight, the percentage of children younger than age 5 who are underweight. And third, Child Mortality, the ratio of children who die before 5, “partially reflecting the fatal synergy of inadequate dietary intake and unhealthy environments.” GHI ranks 122 countries where data is available, rating them between zero (no hunger) to 100. An index than 5 is labeled low, 5-9.9 is moderate, 10-19.9 is serious, 20-29.9 is alarming, and 30 or more is extremely alarming. The world average GHI has been falling from 19.7 in 1990 to 14.6 last year (both values are serious). South Asia was the lone region considered extremely alarming in 1990, with 30 rating, while Sub-Saharan Africa was alarming, with 25.1 for most of the 1990s. Both are now in alarming category, with 26 countries rated over 20 or even 30. Southeast Asia has gone from 14.4 to 8, while Latin America, the Arab nations, and the former Soviet bloc are now below 5 after being in moderate territory in the 1990s. But never let these numbers obscure what they really represent: millions of deprived families, especially their scrawny kids whose minds and lives are stunted by malnutrition or ended by starvation and disease.
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The specter of hunger returns
development and quality of life of affected communities.
Moreover, explains Stamoulis, “farmers need access What can to markets, be done to inputs and lick hunger. infrastructure, If food costs in order to spiral again, increase the impact output and Raising poultry outside Beijing: Suburban farming to cope will again respond to the with rising food prices China Daily video vary widely. high prices.” Hunger and Hence, he undernourishment afflicted the poorest urges three measures for governments: countries of Africa and Asia. But in grain “creating an enabling environment exporters like Thailand and Vietnam, for productivity and more production farmers gained from higher prices, in agriculture, and investing in the reducing overall malnutrition. Different appropriate infrastructure, research and solutions for different situations. other public goods which farmers need to For crisis countries in the first group, produce more and more productively.” FAO’s Stamoulis urges safety nets for the vulnerable communities, as well as risk The other specter: complacency. reduction measures to moderate price But the bigger problem may actually be volatility, including temporary the return of complacency amid this crop rade restrictions to keep domestic year’s record harvests and the expected food prices down. As for exporters, he price declines ahead. FAO’s monthly admonishes, “they should avoid taking cereal market update last month raised unilateral measures like export bans or production forecasts for coarse grains like restrictions that aggravate the situation in corn by 4 million tons, and rice paddy by international markets.” 800,000 tons from December projections. Moreover, world cereal demand is down, The long-term answer to food crises, affected by global economic woes, and rice experts agree, is investment, investment, prices are falling somewhat as exporters investment, which is “critical to sustainable compete for markets. long-term food security,” says FAO. It hopes that high prices of food, like those of Governments, especially those in Asia, may oil, would lure more capital, infrastructure also lose the drive to invest in farm inputs, and technology to the sector, lifting output. infrastructure and R&D, because overall This greater productivity, along with hunger has in fact steadily declined over stable, predictable policies and openness the past decades, despite some upsurge in to trade “will be more effective than other recent years. In the Global Hunger Index strategies” in enhancing food security and 2011 report of the International Food reducing hunger and malnutrition. Policy Research Institute, most countries
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in the region have seen declining indices since 1990, except woefully misgoverned North Korea (see chart this page, and boxed story, page 10). FAO malnutrition data also showed sharp falls in numbers and proportions of undernourished in East Asia (see table, page 8).
food production by 2025, when an additional 8 billion people — more than three Chinas and three Indias — need to be fed. While alarmist lines about civilization collapsing over food scarcity aren’t called for, there is definitely need for sound and urgent global governance and action, as urged by environmentalist Lester Brown in his Der Spiegel article during the past crisis. If the world fails to respond, then hunger will be not just an imaginary action flick, but a real-life tragedy for millions of people across the planet.
But despite such gains, the strains on sustenance stocks continue, especially from population growth, economic expansion, biofuel use, destructive weather, and declining land, water and marine resources for food production. The ADB warns of a looming water crisis and urges action on securing water for
MORE FOOD ON THE TABLE Global Hunger Indices in Asia, 1990-2011 SOUTH, EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
45
1990 1996 2001 2011
40 35 30
GHI GHI GHI GHI
25 20 15 10
Fiji
Malaysia
China
Thailand
Vietnam
Mongolia
Philippines
Indonesia
Sri Lanka
Myanmar
North Korea
Cambodia
Nepal
Lao PDR
Pakistan
5
India
Report
12
Bangladesh
T H E
Timor-Leste
cenSEI
Chart from Global Hunger Index 2011, page 54, by International Food Policy Research Institute
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NEWS ON THE NET World
UN chief speaks of North Korea, US to 'grisly reports' from set final food aid Syria arrangements Amid news of trouble in Homs the day before, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said last Friday during the U.N. General Assembly that "A major assault on Homs took place." Ban continued, "Civilian losses have clearly been heavy. We continue to receive grisly eports of summary executions, arbitrary detentions and torture." Opposition activists in contact with outside media have reported that Syrian troops had started killing insurgents Thursday, after weeks of bombarding the district. What began as largely peaceful protests in Syria, following the "Arab Spring," has now escalated to a violent local government crackdown. A Baba Amro activist told Reuters via Skype: "The massacres are continuing. They are torturing them and killing (detainees) one by one. They are executing them in batches." According to the United Nations, more than 7,500 civilians have been killed by Syrian security forces since March 2011. Meanwhile, Syria's government claimed last December that "armed terrorists" had killed more than 2,000 soldiers and police in connection with the civil unrest sweeping the nation.
This week marks the start of "face-to-face technical discussions" between the U.S. and North Korean representatives, to be held in Beijing in connection with resuming food aid to North Korea. This arrangement comes after an announcement by North Korea to freeze its nuclear and missile tests along with its uranium enrichment programs. The United States, in return, announced that it would provide nutritional assistance in the form of 240,000 metric tons of food. The U.S. and North Korea's already tenuous negotiations had suffered greatly with the death of national leader Kim Jong-Il, which is why concrete progress on the issue comes as positive news. This is especially true in light of reports early last week that North Korea was ready for war. The Asian country reacted to the kickoff of U.S. and South Korea's annual joint military drills last Monday unfavorably, saying: "Hundreds of thousands of troops are poised for a war carrying nuclear war equipment." North Korea's KCNA news agency further reported that Pyongyang considers the drills to be a form of practice for a joint preemptive strike on the North.
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Fukushima's 'cold' reactors pose a constant threat On March 11, 2011, over 15,000 people died in the most powerful earthquake to hit Japan in known history. In the midst of Japan’s rebuilding efforts comes a chilling revelation – that nuclear reactors in Fukushima pose a serious threat, even though they had already been declared "cold," or safe and non-threatening. Due to damages wrought by the quake, three of the plant's six reactors suffered meltdowns, despite efforts to bring temperatures down by flooding them with seawater. Michael Friedlander, a former senior operator at U.S. nuclear power plants, opines that the reactors "are very much cold from a nuclear standpoint and from an energy standpoint and the likelihood of it ever having another criticality or having another explosion is virtually zero." However, he continues, "it's a consequence of the fact that they've now been shut down for a year, much more so than anything that TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) or that anybody else has ever done." Friedlander concluded that the biggest risk is a triggering event – such as another earthquake – that may cause a radioactive leak. CNN offers a comprehensive look at the rebuilding efforts in Japan over the year, following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
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The Sad Plight of Filipino Kids At Work How do we keep them off the streets and in the classrooms? By Pia Rufino
STRATEGY POINTS Poverty is the main, but not the only, determinant of children going to work Those engaged in child labor are far more likely not to finish school than their non-working counterparts Cash-transfer programs, workplace inspections, and support programs are good steps, but significant legislative gaps remain in the Philippines in terms of addressing child labor
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Filipino kids at work: How do you get child laborers off the job sites and into the classroom
A documentary are spent at aired by GMA-7 in work rather January showed than at school. how Mary Joy earns money for The child the family through workers in gold mining. Iligan city Carrying a shovel, featured in the she walks for documentary are almost three hours among the 1.9 GMA-7 Reporter’s Notebook documentary “Butil until she reaches million Filipino ng Kapahamakan, Butil ng Kayamanan” aired on January 10, 2012, showed the activities of a river bed where children between underage gold miners in Iligan city she sluices and 5 to 17 found pans its gravel for to be working, tiny amounts of the gold to exchange for according to the National Statistics money. Sadly, she finds no gold that day, so Office (NSO) report on Annual Poverty her family has to have boiled bananas for Indicator Survey (APIS) in 2010 cited in a dinner. Mary Joy is just 13; most of her days BusinessWorld report.
WORKING CHILDREN IN THE PHILIPPINES, 2010 Number of Working Children Aged 5-17 ('000)
Percentage of Working Children Aged 5-17
29,214
6.3
3,050
0.9
516
9.9
I-Ilocos
1,620
4.4
II-Cagayan Valley
1,044
9.4
III-Central Luzon
2,900
3.1
IVA-CALABARZON
3,367
3.7
IVB-MIMAROPA
1,165
8.3
V-Bicol
1,966
10.7
VI-Western Visayas
2,379
7.4
VII-Central Visayas
1,148
7.5
VIII-Eastern Visayas
1,542
8.3
IX-Zamboanga Peninsula
1,249
10.1
X-Northern Mindanao
1,375
13.2
XI-Davao
1,264
4.6
XII-SOCCSKSARGEN
1,399
6.1
860
8.9
1,369
6.3
Philippines National Capital Region Cordillera Administrative Region
XIII-Caraga Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
Source: “Nearly 2M Filipino children are working — NSO,” BusinessWorld Research, Nov. 30, 2011.
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16 The findings from the 2010 APIS, which interviewed more than 20,000 household heads, depict that the total number of working children accounts for 6.3% of the population in the age bracket and more than a third of the working children are in the lowest per capita income range. Most child workers are rural-based. Northern Mindanao has the highest child labor incidence with working children making 13.2% of the total population aged 5-17. It was followed by Bicol region, Zamboanga Peninsula, Cordillera Administrative Region and Cagayan Valley with 10.7%, 10.1%, 9.9% and 9.4%, respectively. Metro Manila had the lowest incidence at 0.9%. Meanwhile, 40.2% of working children were wage and salary workers employed in private households, establishments, familyoperated businesses, and even government offices while more than half of the working children were unpaid family workers. According to International Labour Organization (ILO), a specialized United Nations (UN) agency that sets and oversees international labor standards, “child labor” is commonly defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. In the Philippines, the minimum age for work is 15 and the minimum age for hazardous work is 18. The country’s labor code, however, allows children younger than 15 to work in nonhazardous activities under the responsibilities of parents or guardians. It is good to note that the number of child workers in the Philippine has been declining since 2001. According to the
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Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) June 2004 Discussion Paper “A National Policy Study on Child Labour and Development in the Philippines,” there were an estimated 4 million child laborers in 2001. In 2005, the National Statistical Office reported 2.1 million working children, as reported in the Philippine Star. However, government policymakers in the Philippines and around the world aren’t turning cartwheels over the declining trend. Quite apart from the numerical trend, concern still abounds, not just over the many who are still working but also over the types of work they continue to do. Filipino children are engaged in hazardous work. Every hour of every day, children around the world are engaged in work that exposes them to serious risks, the US Department of Labor says in its 2010 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, which it released in September 2011. According to the report, which examines the efforts by more than 140 countries to address the worst forms of child labor, child laborers in the Philippines are engaged in agriculture and domestic service, compressor mining, deep-sea fishing and home-based manufacturing industries (ranging from fireworks to accessories). Filipino children may also be found living, working, scavenging and begging on the streets, drug trafficking and involved in other illicit activities. Children are also exploited in the prostitution, pornography and sex tourism industries. All of which exposes the children to multiple dangers, such as accident, crime and abuse. The ILO defines worst forms of child labor as the use of children in slavery, including
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Filipino kids at work: How do you get child laborers off the job sites and into the classroom
armed conflict, prostitution, pornography, illegal activities including production and trafficking of drugs, and work that is hazardous to the health, safety, or morals of children. Jobs posing risks to children’s physical, mental and moral well-being are classified as hazardous work. Hazardous work increases risk of injury. According to C. Castro’s “Measuring hazardous work and identifying risk factors for non-fatal injuries among children working in Philippine agriculture” (Washington, DC, 2010, unpublished), a review of injury data from the Philippines estimated that 23.8% of all working children suffered an injury during one year, which makes a total of 882,440 workplace injuries. The study was cited in the ILO’s 2011 report, “Children in hazardous work: What we know, what we need to do, which makes the case for children in hazardous work a priority for action over the next five years. According to the study, night work, heavy work and exposure to physical hazards each increased the chances of workplace injury by 40%. Meanwhile, children working in agriculture had a five times greater risk of non-fatal injury compared to those working in other industries and that the use of tools in the workplace is often responsible for the injury, based on the study. Within a 12-month reference period, roughly 637,000 childhood agricultural injuries occurred. Globally, there are 215 child laborers and more than half of the number or approximately 115 million are in hazardous work, the ILO said. Hazardous work is increasing among older children, aged
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15–17. Within four years (2004–2008), it jumped 20 % – from 52 million to 62 million. The Philippines is among the 173 countries committed to tackling hazardous work of children “as a matter of urgency” by ratifying the ILO’s Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention. The US Labor department report also revealed that India, Bangladesh and the Philippines have the most number of products made by child workers. India is leading with children in the country producing no less than 20 products, including cigarettes, bricks, fireworks, footwear, glass bangles, incense, locks, matches, rice, silk fabric and thread, and soccer balls. In Bangladesh, children produced 14 types of goods, many of them of an industrial nature, such as bricks, footwear, steel furniture, leather, matches, and textiles. Children in the Philippines are involved in the production of bananas, coconuts, corn, fashion accessories, gold, hogs, pornography, pyrotechnics, rice, rubber, sugar cane and tobacco. Working deters children from attending school. PIDS Policy Notes No. 2011-16, “Why are some Filipino children not in school?” cites Department of Education data in saying that in 2008, only 88% of primary-school-age children and 60% of secondary-school-age children were in school. It also cites the National Statistics Office’s 2008 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey in reporting that 2.9 million children between 5-15 were not in school.
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18 Among the policy note’s findings: poverty forces some children to work at an early age, and from there, they also become more likely not to finish their schooling. Apart from poverty, the parents’ educational attainment (especially the mother’s) is also an important factor in a child’s chances of staying in school (see following table). Applying the logistic regression model to
which were also factors that influenced children’s continuing participation in school. The high incidence of child labor, especially in rural areas, is also a major reason for the low completion rate in the elementary level in 2005, based on the Philippines’ education plans and policies
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AS A FUNCTION OF POVERTY AND MATERNAL EDUCATION Adjusted school attendance rates of 5-15 year-old children by household per capita income quintile and by mother's educational attainment Mother's Highest Educational Attainment Per Capita Income Quintile
Memo Note: Sample Size of Children
At Most Preprimary (%)
Some Primary (%)
Some High School (%)
Beyond High School (%)
Unknown (%)
All (%)
Unknown Mother's Educational Attainment
All Children
Poorest
50.2
65.2
78.0
82.8
65.5
69.3
471
15,549
Second
55.4
72.6
82.1
87.3
68.8
77.2
422
12,200
Third
73.7
79.7
85.5
88.2
77.5
83.4
552
9,830
Fourth
73.7
83.3
88.5
89.9
82.9
87.4
495
7,934
School attendance is inversely correlated to poverty, and positively correlated to maternal educational attainment Source: “Why are some Filipino children not in school?”, PIDS Policy Notes No. 2011-16, August 2011, p. 3.
the variable of non-participation in school, the policy note found that secondaryschool-age children engaged in child labor are 7.07 times more likely to be out of school than those who are not engaged in labor activities. It also found that while programs such as the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, which compensates families for keeping their children in school, are good for keeping children from going to work, there were other supply-side determinants that the government still needed to address, e.g., access to and the quality of public schools,
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“Philippine Education For All 2015: Implementation and Challenges,” uploaded to the portal of education plans and policies from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization member-states. Discussing how child labor affects education, ILO Philippines Director Lawrence Jeff Johnson said in a press conference in April 2011: “Children that combine work with school often drop out, as child labor interferes with their learning. And children who have poor access to education often work to meet immediate family needs, and for lack of a better alternative.”
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Filipino kids at work: How do you get child laborers off the job sites and into the classroom
The April 2011 ABS-CBN report also mentioned that dropout rate for elementary students has increased over the last three years—from an average of 5.99% in 2007-08 to 6.28% in 2009-2010. As per Department of Education data, 803,836 students dropped out in elementary and 434,517 in high school for school year 2009-2010. Poverty is the root of child labor. Jesus M. Macasil, Jr., director of the ILO Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour Towards a Child Labour Free Philippines that the main factor contributing to child-labor incidence is poverty.
• Culture and tradition – When parents see that there are few opportunities open even to children with education, they perceive labor as the most productive use of their children’s time. Children are also expected to follow the path of their parents and help other members of the family. • Market demand – Child labor is cheaper labor. Employers can easily control child workers because of their obedience. • The effects of income shocks on households – Households that cannot handle income shocks, such as natural disasters, economic or agricultural crises or the impact of HIV or AIDS may resort to child labor as a coping mechanism.
“There are other factors that contribute to this issue (child labor) such as lack of access to schools and educational facilities and poor health and nutrition. However, these other factors can still be traced back to poverty,” he said in the BusinessWorld report. The United Nations said in a briefing paper on child labor, however, that poverty is not the only factor that contributes to child labor. Poverty, the UN further said, cannot justify all types of employment and servitude, noting that child-labor incidence even varies in countries which may be equally poor. What follows are other factors that influence whether the children work, according to the UN: • Barriers to education – Basic education is not free in all countries and is not available and affordable. The poor quality of education in schools is also a barrier. Children are sent to work rather than to
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school when parents see no value on education.
• Inadequate/poor enforcement of legislation and policies to protect children – When laws and policies to protect children are weak or if not well implemented, child labor continues. Another situation where children resort to working and are likely to end up in the worst forms of child labor is when dysfunctional households and abusive parents push children to leave home and fend for themselves, the Department of Justice Special Committee for the Protection of the Children said in its comprehensive program on child protection for 2006-2010, “Protecting Filipino children from abuse, exploitation and violence.” Legislative gaps remain in addressing child labor in the country. The US Labor department report noted
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20 shortcomings of the Philippine government in addressing child labor, saying that significant legislative gaps remain, including compulsory education and protection for domestic workers. In the report’s country profile of the Philippines, the US Labor department observed that the Labor Enforcement and Action Program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), which reportedly inspected 27,764 establishments in 2010, still fails to address much of the agriculture sector, where most child labor occurs. “Even with the increase in inspections, between January and October 2010, DOLE identified only 35 child laborers through workplace inspections, an additional 50 child laborers were identified during a DOLE assessment of informal gold mines in Mindanao, and 26 children were found in sugarcane plantations in Iloilo and Negros Occidental,” the report found. The small number of child-labor violations uncovered during 2010 points to gaps in the labor inspection process, noting that only 20 cases of child labor violations were filed in 2010 by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the PNP Office of the Prosecutor, it concluded. The report acknowledges various government programs for child laborers and disadvantaged youth, such as: • DOLE’s Project Angel Tree, which provided 703 child laborers with educational and livelihood assistance from January through November 2010 • DOLE’s Kabuhayan para Sa Magulang ng Batang Manggagawa (Livelihood for
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Parents of Child Laborers), which provided funds to 101 parents of working children from January to September 2010 • DOLE’s Youth Education-Youth Employability program provides disadvantaged youth, such as former child laborers, with the resources to pursue postsecondary education while the Alternative Learning System program offers nonformal education to all out-of-school children, including child laborers • DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, which provided cash transfers to 2.34 million low-income households in 2010. The cash transfers are contingent on children’s monthly school attendance rate of at least 85% and regular medical checkups and immunizations • DSWD’s Kasambahay program, which provides immediate services to child domestic workers, including shelter, psychological support and reintegration Given the scope and magnitude of child labor in the Philippines, the report said, the limited reach of these programs is not sufficient to combat child labor, especially in agriculture and domesticservice sectors. Specific recommendations from ILO, US Dept. of Labor. The ILO, in its “Children in hazardous work” report, has three basic prescriptions: ensure that children until the minimum age of employment are in school; reinforce workplace safety and health especially for youth between the minimum age of employment and the age of 18, and; provide legal measures against hazardous child work.
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Filipino kids at work: How do you get child laborers off the job sites and into the classroom
Meanwhile, the US Labor Department suggests the following specific measures for addressing the Philippines’ child-labor situation. Laws and regulations • Increase the age of compulsory schooling to 15, the minimum age for work. • Enact the Batas Kasambahay to extend legal protections to domestic workers, including minors of legal working age Coordination and enforcement • Target child-labor inspections in sectors and establishments where children work, including agriculture • Create enforcement and protection mechanisms for children working on the streets, as domestic servants or in other residence-based sectors • Disaggregate trafficking data reported by NBI by age group and ensure that trafficking data is not reported in duplicate by both NBI and PNP Policies • Fully implement education policies to ensure that all children have access to nearby schools and without prohibitive costs for educationrelated expenses • Operationalize policies to eliminate the worst forms of child labor Programs • Expand programs that indirectly combat child labor to all sectors in which children work, specifically those providing education services to children and livelihood support to parents of child laborers • Assess the impact of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program's conditional cash transfer program on the worst forms of child labor • Expand programs combating child labor, especially targeting the agriculture and domestic service sectors where children are known to work
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The ten worst child labor offenders: Four in Asia, six in Africa A study by UK-based global risk analyst firm Maplecroft on child-labor incidence in 197 countries finds that 76 countries, nearly 40%, pose extreme child-labor involvement risks for companies worldwide, due to worsening global security and the economic downturn in Europe. The figure is up more than 10% from the 68 such countries the firm identified last year. The chart below provides a global map of child-labor involvement risk.
GLOBAL PICTURE OF CHILD-LABOR INVOLVEMENT RISK
Source: Child Labour Index 2012, Maplecroft
The Child Labour Index 2012 developed by Maplecroft assess the scale of the child-labor problem in the countries and governments’ actions to combat child labor and its perpetrators, helping companies to identify risks of having child labor within their supply chains. (The link is to a summary of the report, which is available upon registration and for a fee.) The index also analyzes the risk of the involvement of children in work, the conditions of which could have a negative impact on health, safety, and well-being of child laborers. Maplecroft ranks the following countries as worst child labor offenders: 1. Myanmar – Forty percent of children in Burma have never enrolled in school. Children as young as 12 are soldiers or military porters, and those who are not army recruits are
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often forced to work on farms, run street markets or collect garbage in the streets. Suicide is also common among the worst treated. 2. North Korea – As punishment for political offenses, youth are being placed in labor camps. Although the government forbids underage work, school children can still be seen working in factories and fields. 3. Somalia – Close to 40% of total population aged 15 years old below are found to be working in the country and involved in worst forms of child labor. Children are employed as bodyguards or sex slaves within militias and engaged in agriculture and quarry works using dangerous equipment. 4. Sudan – In North Africa, children are commonly recruited as child soldiers, or to be used for forced labor on farms. Young girls are also seized and made sex workers, or even slaves. 5. Democratic Republic of Congo – Children mined by hand some of the iron ore used to construct China’s stadiums in the central African nation. According to Maplecroft, child labor accounts for about 30% of mining activity in the country. 6. Zimbabwe – A large number of Zimbabwean children work unofficially in the country’s chrome, diamond and gold mines. A popular program dubbed “Learn as You Earn” has also encouraged
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child labor in the forestry and agriculture sectors, often at the expense of a formal school education. 7. Afghanistan – Children make up half the country’s population. More than 30% of primaryschool aged children go to work in cement, textile and food processing industries, or in the poppy fields. A growing number of underage girls are also being given away to repay debts, according to Maplecroft. 8. Burundi – Almost a quarter of all children aged 4-15 in the country are said to be involved in child labor, including slavery. The large number of youths engaging in heavy manual work in Burundi’s agricultural, mining and brick-making industries held steady in 2011, but there was a rise in child prostitution. 9. Pakistan – Children continue to be abducted, rented, bought and sold in Pakistan, where Nike was famously accused of exploiting lapsed underage work laws for the production of soccer balls. Most of the labor offenses occur in Punjab province, which is a global supplier of stitched rugs, musical instruments and sports equipment. 10. Ethiopia – Nearly 60% of Ethiopian children are put to work to supplement family income, earning about a dollar a month. Most children are also involved in domestic, farming and gold mining work.
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NEWS ON THE NET Nation
Corona prosecutors rest case Lead prosecutor Niel Tupas Jr. announced last Tuesday that the prosecution has decided to rest its case against Chief Justice Renato Corona . The panel will no longer present evidence on the five other articles of impeachment believing that the evidence presented for the three articles are sufficient to convict Corona. On the other hand, the defense panel expressed its readiness to present its side. However, lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas said that the Chief Justice will not testify despite Senator Juan Ponce Enrile’s statement that the best rebuttal would come from Corona himself. Cuevas stressed this because of the rule against objections to the questions of senator-judges. Trial will resume on March 12 to give time for both panels to file their respective motions on the written offer of evidence by the prosecution.
Ombudsman clears Arroyo of plunder Former President Gloria Arroyo have been cleared of the plunder charge in a complaint filed by whistleblower Danilo Lihaylihay. Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales dismissed the complaint against Arroyo in a 19-page resolution for lack of merit adding that there was no evidence supporting the allegations of the complainant. The others who were cleared were former Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, former
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, former Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, former Finance Privatization Council head John Philip Sevilla and Megaworld Corp. chair Andrew Tan. The plunder charge filed in 2010 arose from alleged irregularities in the sale of the old Iloilo Airport in 2007. Lihaylihay claimed that capital gains tax worth P72 million were not remitted for the sale of airport to Megaworld Corp.
MMDA initiates single ticketing The MMDA launched the use of a common ticket called the Uniform Ordinance Violation Receipt (UOVR) to be issued to apprehended traffic violators all over Metro Manila. The MMDA, local government units and LTO traffic enforcers will recognize the UOVRs issued by other local governments as a valid traffic citation receipt and will also be a temporary driver’s license. A joint oversight committe was also established to ensure the executionn of the new single ticketing system. Last January, the Metro Manila Council composed of city and municipal mayors of Metro Manila together with the MMDA agreed to this unified ticketing system. Under the system, the UOVR is valid only
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for a single common offense and another UOVR will be issued for another violation.
Iglesia ni Cristo shows strength in rally Members of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) gathered at Quirino Grandstand at the Luneta Park last Tuesday in what the congregation called a grand evangelical mission. Roads and streets around the metro were filled with busses and jeepneys carrying INC members enroute to the gathering causing heavy traffic. The Philippine National Police estimated a mammoth crowd of around 600,000 members attended the event. The evangelical mission was simultaneously held in Tarlac and Cebu. Officials of the INC insisted that the event was purely a Bible Exposition activity although several political figures joined the members. However, some quarters believe it was a show of force to the Aquino administration after a series of events did not seem to appeal to the INC such as the impeachment of Chief Justice Corona and the sacking of their member NBI director Magtanggol Gatdula. Last February, a number of INC members gathered near the Supreme Court premises to show support for the Chief Justice. President Aquino dismissed the idea that it was a show of force against him.
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How to Deal with Workplace Stress Why happy people work better By Marishka Noelle M. Cabrera
STRATEGY POINTS Coping with stress entails reassessing priorities, staying in the present, and achieving work/life balance Reducing stress is also good for work output
Are we having fun yet? Based on the results of a study on workplace stress commissioned by global organization Grant Thornton International, this could very well be the question on the minds of many Filipino businessmen. The survey of 6,000 businesses around the world for Grant Thornton's International Business Report (IBR) found that on a global scale, business leaders in general were not as stressed in 2011 as they were in 2010 – 28% reported an increase in stress levels, compared to 45% in 2010. Drilling down further, however, the Philippine Daily Inquirer interviewed Grant Thornton local partner firm Punongbayan & Araullo, and found that in the Philippines, 52% of local business leaders reported being more stressed in 2011, down slightly from the 55% who reported being more stressed in 2010. On an operational level, the International Business Report reveals that reaching performance targets causes the most stress for businesspeople. Reaching performance targets is regarded by 30% of the respondents as the biggest stressor, with office politics at 11%, and work/life balance at 9%. How to cope. Ed Nusbaum, CEO of Grant Thornton International, also notes that business leaders have learned to cope better with stress by “adjusting to more realistic performance measures and goals.” There is also clear evidence in the report that taking a holiday can actually reduce stress levels. Nusbaum suggests, “Business growth prospects benefit from having strong, focused direction so we strongly advocate taking the time to step away, reflect and recharge in
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order to bring a new perspective to decision making.�
increases in stress levels, while those with more holidays, as in Denmark, Russia, and the Netherlands, consider themselves less stressed. The Philippines is among those in the more stressed-fewer holidays quadrant of the graph below.
Interestingly, countries where businesses have the fewest holidays, such as Japan, China, and Thailand, also report the biggest
STRESS LEVELS OF BUSINESS LEADERS AROUND THE GLOBE Stress Rises, But Less Steeply Percentage of businesses indicating increase in stress minus those indicating decrease 58
56
44
43
APAC 2010
BRIC
40
40
22
23
EU
G7
45
38 28
35
Latin America
North America
28
21
Global
2011
The levels of stress among Filipino business leaders is higher than the average for the Asia-Pacific region, which registered 44% of area business leaders feeling more stressed, followed by BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) with 43%, and Latin America with 28% Source: Press release, Grant Thornton IBR 2012
HOLIDAYS AND STRESS LEVELS Holidays Taken vs. Levels of Stress Percentage of business
LESS STRESSED FEWER HOLIDAYS
MORE STRESSED FEWER HOLIDAYS
Japan China (mainland)
Botawana Georgia
Armenia
Thailand Mexico
Singapore South Africa Phiippines United Sates Hong Kong Chile Malaysia Australia New India Zealand Global Brazil Ireland Turkey Poland Argentina United Arab Emirates Switzerland Italy United Kingdom Spain Belgium Netherlands Canada Germany France Sweden Finland
Taiwan Vietnam
Peru
Greece
Denmark
LESS STRESSED MORE HOLIDAYS
MORE STRESSED MORE HOLIDAYS
Russia
Source: Press release, Grant Thornton IBR 2012)
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Stress in the workplace can be detrimental. While stress improves the ability of the human body to survive lifethreatening situations, in the workplace, where threats are mostly perceived and not literally life-threatening, stress can be detrimental. In fact, when we are stressed, we become jumpy, irritable, clumsy, anxious, and unable to think clearly. “[Stress] actually reduces our ability to work effectively with other people,” according to an article from Mind Tools, a skills-training website. “With trembling and a pounding heart, we can find it difficult to execute precise, controlled skills. The intensity of our focus on survival interferes with our ability to make fine judgments by drawing information from many sources. We find ourselves more accident-prone and less able to make good decisions.” Thus, in
order to become effective workers and less susceptible to burnout, the fight-or-flight response must be kept under control. Then again, stress in the workplace is inevitable, and can be caused by a variety of factors: job-specific issues, working conditions, individual differences, and interpersonal relationships. Causes of work-related stress, as interspersed throughout a World Health Organization booklet, “Raising Awareness of Stress at Work in Developing Countries: A modern hazard in a traditional working environment,” include: high work pace, lack of control, low participation, little support from colleagues and supervisor, poor career developments, job insecurity, long working hours, low income, and sexual and/or psychological harassment.
Preparing for fight or flight “Stress” is defined by one of the founding fathers of stress research, endocrinologist Hans Selye, as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change,” as quoted in an article from The American Institute of Stress. This graphic from Harvard Medical School depicts the changes that happen to one’s body more or less simultaneously in the face of real or perceived threats, to heighten one's senses and prepare for action. It starts with a cascade of hormones from the adrenal glands, then the breath quickens. Glucose and fats are released to provide energy for the body. The heart beats faster and blood pressure rises. Lastly, the muscles tighten to prepare the body to “spring into action.”
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Source: “How stress affects your body,” Stress Resource Center, Harvard Health Publications, Harvard Medical School
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California-based Work Stress Coaches, a group specializing in work-related stress, adds to the list: increasing workloads, longer hours, pressure to perform at optimum levels at all times, unrealistic deadlines and expectations, and lack of perceived appreciation. Happy workers are better workers. Pressures at work can certainly take a toll on the individual, and, eventually, on the organization as a whole. Try as we may to become excellent workers, we can’t be on our toes 100% of the time, and stress will inevitably decrease productivity. As it turns out, one oftenunexplored solutions to increasing productivity lies in the simplest and most universal of ideas: happiness. In research conducted by Andrew Oswald, Eugenio Proto, and Daniel Sgroi of the Economics Department in the United Kingdom-based University of Warwick, the team found that “human happiness has large and positive causal effects on productivity.” In fact, the group’s findings in a series of experiments reveal that happier workers were 12% more productive, while unhappier workers were 10% less productive. Further, in a 2009 report in ScienceDaily, happy employees are crucial to the company’s success, according to findings by Professor Thomas Wright of Kansas State University. To quote Wright: “Simply put, psychologically well employees are better performers. Since higher employee performance is inextricably tied to an organization's bottom line, employee well-being can play a key role in establishing a competitive advantage."
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Under pressure Be careful what you stress about, or your brain might shrink. Featured in an article in Time, Dr. Rajita Sinha, professor of psychiatry and neurobiology at Yale University Medical School and director of the Yale Stress Center, reports in the journal Biological Psychiatry that “adverse life events that cause stress can lead to shrinkage in parts of the brain responsible for regulating emotions and metabolism.” Sinha and her team imaged the brains of 100 healthy people who recently experienced a traumatic or stressful experience, and found that “(e)ven very recently affected subjects showed smaller grey matter in their brains in the prefrontal cortex, a region that is responsible for selfcontrol, emotions and physiological functions such as maintaining proper glucose and insulin levels.” “The key take home message is that across the board the area that is most vulnerable to stress of any kind is the prefrontal cortex,” Sinha explains. Clearly, the role of stress in the development of negative behavior and serious illnesses is often overlooked. In an article from PsychCentral, chronic stress can lead to serious physical and psychological ailments because of the “sustained high levels of the chemicals released during the ‘fight-or-flight’ response.” Prolonged stress can lead to heart problems, high blood pressure, susceptibility to infection, skin problems such as acne and eczema, muscle pain and headaches, diabetes, or, at times, infertility. Symptoms of stress, according to the Yale Stress Center, can be in the form of less energy or fatigue, difficulty sleeping, more aches, pains, and sickness, mood swings, difficulty concentrating, unwanted or repetitive thoughts, and increased intake of alcohol, nicotine, or comfort foods. All these manifestations can, in turn, affect the individual’s performance at work. Based on a series about protecting workers’ health by the World Health Organization, work stress can affect organizations through increased absenteeism, lack of commitment to work, high staff turnover, impaired performance, and increased complaints from clients or customers.
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28 Creating a healthy working environment. Given these findings, it is, therefore, imperative for organizational leaders of today to set the tone for a healthy (and happy) working environment. A Forbes article suggests proactively managing workplace stress by: practicing primary intervention or ensuring “employees are not being burdened with too much work or unrealistic deadlines;” implementing on-going intervention techniques like surveys and individual employee assessments; providing management training on the causes and consequences of stress; improving communication with employees; and creating a company culture where
employees are recognized for good performance, individual workers are valued, and there are opportunities for career development. Taking our cue from a Psychology Today article about the Best Company to Work For, based on Fortune’s 2011 list, business analytics software company SAS minimizes hassles of timetable conflicts by providing services—subsidized day-care centers, free health clinic, hairdressers, dry cleaning, cafeterias—inside the office compound; offers stress-reduction programs like yoga, massage, and hiking; and SAS requires only a 35-hour workweek, among other perks.
In moderation, stress can be a good thing Feeling stressed lately? Don’t fret because not all stress is bad. A certain level of stress can, in fact, be beneficial. A Newsweek article asserts that stress can be good for you. “In the long term,” author Mary Carmichael says, “stress can motivate us to do better at jobs we care about. A little of it can prepare us for a lot later on, making us more resilient.” Too much stress can lead to health problems, but stress in small doses can help the body improve its ability to handle stress better. “Short-term stress helps us perform at a higher level, improves our memory and our immune system. It also activates brain cells, which means that periodic stimulation may prevent Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia,” an article from Discovery Fit and Health notes. Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal article tackles the differences between harmful stress and healthy stress. The right amount of stress can put you in “the zone,” where performance is an optimal level. Learning to manage one’s reactions to stress can lead to a more positive attitude. Amy Gallo, contributing editor at Harvard Business Review, suggests turning stress into an asset. After all, stress is unavoidable and very much part of our modern life. In her article, Gallo enumerates five principles to follow to make the daily pressures constructive, rather than destructive. First, is to recognize worry for what it is: a feeling. You can act more rationally if you focus on the task rather than the feeling. Then, Gallo says, reframe the stress or change your mindset to something positive so you can “broaden and build” instead of fight or flee. Next, focus on what you can control and accept the things you can’t change. Also, create a network of support because knowing somebody is there for you can help you cope emotionally. Lastly, get some stress-handling experience or put yourself in “non-game-changing, but pressured, situations” to get some practice in dealing with stress.
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How to deal with workplace stress
“Treating employees well is a profitable strategy because they reciprocate by working hard,” the article emphasizes. SAS employees care about what they do and feel they are being noticed and appreciated. In the end, money is not the only motivator. More than financial reward, people are motivated by the following: mastery (the desire to improve at something), autonomy (the opportunity to be self-directed), and purpose, as explained in an animation by RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce) based on a talk by Daniel Pink, best-selling author of “Drive: The surprising truth of what motivates us.” Pink reminds leaders to “get past this ideology of carrots and sticks,” and, instead, “start treating people like people.”
Manage your time. The Mayo Clinic says the common cause of job stress is work overload or the feeling that one has too much to do. Thus, to improve time management skills, set realistic goals, learn to list your tasks according to priority, and protect your time by blocking interruptions when you know you have to deal with something important. Welcome distractions. Even the most avid employee needs to take a break once in a while. Pleasant distractions, like taking a walk and grabbing coffee, are necessary to get us through the workday, as explained in an article from CareerBuilder.com published in the CNN website. Put things in perspective. The hypothalamus is responsible for the release of certain stress hormones, but it is the
Source: RSA animation of lecture by Daniel Pink, April 1, 2010
How do you minimize the pressures in your own life, you might ask? Here are some tips.
The
mind that perceives whether a situation – traffic jams, deadlines, a complicated task, finances, long lines – is stressful or not. An
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How to deal with workplace stress
article from Discovery Fit and Health says, “[I]f you put these things in perspective as mere inconveniences, your hypothalamus won't order up a flood of adrenaline when it's bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to the horizon.”
Laugh. A lot. Indeed, laughter is the best medicine. According to an article from the Mayo Clinic, a good, hearty laugh can, in the short-term, stimulate many organs with enhanced oxygen intake, activate and relieve stress response, and soothe tension by stimulating circulation and aiding muscle relaxation. Moreover, positive thoughts release neuropeptides that fight stress and serious illnesses. Laughing can also relieve pain by causing the body to produce “natural painkillers” and increase personal satisfaction. Stay in the now. “Humans have great mental capacity to travel forward and backwards in time – either anticipating
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the future or recollecting the past.” This is an observation gleaned from a discussion at the World Economic Forum early this year. Instead of focusing on the present— what matters now, what we can control at the moment—we either worry about the future or regret the things that happened in the past. “That worry,” the synopsis reveals, “can drain people of energy and optimism, making them more vulnerable to depression and burnout and less resilient in the face of life’s challenges.” Meditate. In Harvard Medical School’s “Your portable guide to stress relief,” meditation can “evoke a relaxation response.” To get started, choose a mental device to focus on like a word or image. Then, adopt a passive attitude and do not resist other thoughts entering your consciousness. Simply acknowledge these thoughts and get your mind back in focus. Slowly relax your muscles and breathe slowly and naturally. Practicing meditation can improve mental clarity and the ability to control actions that are triggered by extreme emotions. Strive for work/life balance. As they say, work to live and don’t live to work. More than anything, remember why you work in the first place. For your family’s future? Your own self-fulfillment? For that vacation you’re saving up for? Whatever it is, being reminded of your work’s purpose allows you to focus on what is essential, rather than be bothered by life’s little hassles. Finally, don’t forget to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
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Stirring Up a Hornets' Nest Can the Philippines streamline its resources policy to please both mining companies and environmentalists? By Libby Gallentes
The Aquino administration's plan to streamline the government's mining policy, as reported in November, has generated plenty of buzz, so to speak. In February, an 8-page draft executive order was reportedly sent to different government agencies for feedback, in advance of the government's promise to release a new and improved executive order by the end of the month. The draft document found its way to the media, and touched off some jockeying for influence between mining companies and business groups on the one hand and environmental and anti-mining advocates on the other, with the government in the middle. On March 2, after the government had missed its self-imposed deadline, a conference was held in Makati City promising an actual exchange of views between mining companies and environmental advocates.
The
Light and heat exchange. The conference featured some of the most prominent names from each side -- Regina Lopez, managing director of the ABS-CBN Foundation and former Commission on Elections chairman Christian Monsod for the environmental advocates; Philex Mining chairman Manuel Pangilinan and NickelAsia president and CEO Gerry Brimo for the mining industry – and it didn't disappoint those who expected both light and heat to emanate from the discussions. “The sad reality is you don't know what you're talking about,” Brimo addressed Lopez, half in jest, as he was preparing to launch his presentation on sustainable mining. From there, more testy words would be exchanged. "Now you are lying," Pangilinan, the telecoms, power, tollways, and now mining tycoon, told Lopez, herself a scion of the Lopez family, still big not just in media and property but also in gas extraction and geothermal energy. Lopez had said that Pangilinan had declared that all
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32 the areas used in mining were ugly anyway, which he strongly denied. Those exchanges aside, the conference itself was spirited enough to prompt the government to say it would conduct more consultations with various sectors before issuing its promised executive order. That promised executive order, whenever or whether it is released, could determine the fate of Philippine mining even beyond the end of President Benigno Aquino III's term. Mining companies give Philippines low rank. The cornerstone of the country's mining policy is the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, which the Supreme Court affirmed as constitutional in 2004. Among its key provisions: • Local government empowerment; • Respect and concern for the indigenous cultural communities; • Equitable sharing of benefits of natural wealth; • Economic demands of present generation while providing the necessary foundation for future generations; • Worldwide trend towards globalization, and; • Protection and wise management of the environment. Despite the law, many mining companies are not impressed. According to the 20112012 Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies, the Philippines placed 88th in the firm's survey of mining companies in 93 jurisdictions around the world. In its survey the year before, which covered mining companies in 79 jurisdictions, the Philippines ranked 66th.
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Gold and other buried treasure in The Philippines is a highly mineralized country. Practically every province of the country has some mineral of commercial quantity. The country has proven reserves of 13 metallic and 29 non-metallic minerals, among them: gold, copper, chromite, nickel, iron, lead, zinc and cobalt for the metals, and salt, sand and gravel, marble, clay and limestone among the non-metallic. Metals comprise around 75% of the country’s total mineral production and almost all of our mineral exports. Of the metals, the most abundant are copper, which in ore form, was GOLD DEPOSITS Discoveries and Prospects (1985-Present) DICKSON (CNC-Faratuk) TERESA (Lepanto) 88.8 MMt 5.23 g/t Au
ARCHANGEL-LOBO-CALO MRL
Discovery (n=10) Prospects (n+6+)
BULAWAN (Philex) 23.9 MMt, 1.91 g/t Au
SIBUTAD (Philex) 41 MMt, 1.46 g/t Au BALABAG TVI 3.33 MMt, 2.72 g/t Au T'BOLI Cadan Res 1.3 MMt, 11.6 g/t Au Fifteen sites of gold deposits around the country, and
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the boondocks estimated in 1994 to have reserves of around 4,597 million metric tons, chromite, iron, nickel and gold. Silver is also produced, but as a by-product of gold or copper mining.
in 1940, and the Philippines was among the top goldproducing nations from 1980 to 1990. The country's chromite refractory reserve in Zambales is considered among the largest in the world.
According to statistics on the Philippines' mining potential circa 1996, the country's mineral reserves were estimated to be worth at least $1 trillion.
Recently, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources announced that it would embark on exploration activities for possible deposits of rare earth metals, with technical and fianancial assistance from China, which accounts for 97% of the world's rare-earth metals.
The country's vast mineral resources, particularly in gold, enabled the production of 37 tons of gold
OPERATING GOLD MINES (2011)
RUNRUNO (MetalsEx) 25.4 MMt, 1.74 gt/Au
TERESA (Lepanto) 8.8 MMt 5.23 g/t Au
PAO-YABE (Royalco)
MASBATE (Filminera-CGA) 262.48 MMt 0.87 g/t Au
NALESBITAN (El Dore) 7.7 MMt, 1.11 gt/Au
CENTRAL MASBATE (Geograce-Vace)
CO-O (Medusa) 3.74 MMt 10.28 g/t Au
AGATA-TAPIAN MRL
CO-O (Medusa) 3.74 MMt, 10.28 g/t Au DIWALWAL (PMDC) 10.2 MMt, 8.10 g/t Au
NORTH DAVAO PROSPECTS (North Davao) MACO (Apex) 3.87 MMt 5.9 g/t Au
BATOTO-TARALE Cadan Resources four operating gold mines
Source: Philippine Mineral Exploration Perspective, presentation by Sajona and Domingo at Mining
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Mining industry representatives and environmental advocates meet in a formal setting, trying to sway public opinion Sources: video presentation uploaded to YouTube (Brimo's presentation); ABS-CBN News Channel video on abs-cbnnews.com
Where the Philippines ranks highly is probably what keeps mining companies from leaving or dismissing the country outright: in the area of policy/mineral potential assuming industry best practices and no land-use restrictions, the Philippines ranks 7th. In short, the Philippines has mineral resource potential to spare.
The old saying, “In the Philippines, the law is only a suggestion,” has become something of a local truism. As it turns out, there may well be bases for concluding that, starting from the fact that national laws can be enacted without allocating budgets for implementation and/or implementing rules and regulations for their enforcement.
Meanwhile, the Ateneo School of Government weighed in with its own policy brief in December, recommending that the government “impose a blanket moratorium on mining,” because “the country is not yet capable of accurately measuring the real benefits and costs of mining.”
Nowhere could all that be more true than in the Philippine mining industry, where largely foreign-owned, large-scale mining companies feel beset by local, small-scale mining operations, who seem to be part of a otherwise unnatural coalition of social and anti-mining environmentalists.
“The government's limitations in accounting for verifiable economic benefits versus environmental, social, cultural and economic costs are so serious that we are effectively gambling away our future,” it declared, explaining that “the consequences of erroneous decisions are so huge and irreversible that it is better to take a longer and precautionary view.”
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In subsequent installments, we'll examine the performance of the Philippine mining industry in the context of three key questions: 1 Has mining helped/benefited the country? 2. Has mining helped local communities and the poor? 3. Does the government have the will and the capability to promote sustainable mining and environment protection?
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NEWS ON THE NET Business
following the success of the previously deplored Harmony Web & Video Optimization and Harmony Analytics.
Smart partners with Vodafone Wireless services provider giant Smart Communications has joined forces with international company Vodafone to provide local subscribers with an array of new mobile and data services. Smart and Vodafone have agreed to work together in a series of collaborations which include sharing of rollout strategies for green networks, as well as longterm evolution. Mary Alice Ramos, Smart international roaming business and alliances head, has also stated that the collaboration will allow for potential game changing initiatives in the areas of customer services and e-services, among others. Sister company Sun Cellular has also amped up its customer service options for its subscribers, primarily via more channels of communication. Meanwhile, industry competitor Globe has teamed up with Flash Networks – a leading provider of mobile Internet monetization and optimization solutions – in order launch and implement Harmony Monetization solutions as an added service to offer its subscribers,
Philippine stocks hit record high, breach 5,000 mark for 1st time The Philippine stock index breached the 5,000 mark for the first time in history last Thirsday, though it pared down gains at closing. The main Philippines Stock Exchange index finished 40.96 points at 4,938.61; down from a peak of 5,011. The 5,000 mark breach occurred in the morning, according to dealers, as investors anticipated further monetary easing by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Global risk appetite was also given a jolt by the European Central Bank, via a fresh liquidity release. “The PSEi breached the 5,000 level but was unable to sustain it. The market is susceptible to near-term consolidation. We, however, view pullbacks as opportunities to increase exposure,” Mark Angeles, head of research at First Metro Securities, offered as analysis. “The financial world is better today than it was last year.” President Benigno Aquino III said early on Friday that the breach was an indication that the Philippine economy was poised
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for takeoff. "The stock market is the clearest indicator and fastest reacting business indicator to show business confidence,” the President said. As if to cement the sentiment, the Philippine Stock Exchange index closed at an all-time high on the same day, beating the previous day’s record and closing at 5,016.
Honda slips; Mazda, Chrysler gain in key quality report Honda Motor Co., winner for the past four years in the influential annual automotive Consumer Reports' report card, slipped to fourth place this year among 13 major automotive industry players. The Japanese company struggled with problems connected with the redesign of several car models, including the Civic and the Odyssey. These new products scored lower than their predecessors. However it was Ford that posted the most drastic negative change – from fifth place in the 2011 report to tenth this year. In comparison, Mazda posted the largest gains, jumping to second place from seventh place last year. Subaru also came in first place for the first time in the 2012 report.
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The Clean and Green Career Caring for the earth is not an easy way to make a living By Joanne Angela B. Marzan
STRATEGY POINTS The ongoing shift from a highcarbon-consumption economy to a green, environmentally sustainable economy will fuel a demand for green jobs. The growth in green jobs will depend, to a large extent, on governments' ability to coordinate their environment policies with their skill- and capacity-building policies. Green jobs should not only help lower "negative impact" on the environment but should also constitute "decent work"
Not too long ago, the world was seen in hues of only blue and white. You either had a job requiring manual labor (blue-collar job) or one that required a formal education and put you behind a desk (white-collar job). But now, the world is slowly embracing green. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), “Climate change and the excessive use of scarce resources are prompting urgent calls for a shift towards more sustainable development and greener economies.� It defines a green job as any
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Green job, anyone?
kind of employment that “help[s] reduce negative environmental impact ultimately leading to environmentally, economically and socially sustainable enterprises and economies.” To be more specific, the ILO identifies green jobs as “decent jobs” that: 1. Reduce consumption of energy and raw materials 2. Limit greenhouse gas emissions 3. Minimize waste and pollution 4. Protect and restore ecosystems The September 2008 report, Green Jobs: Towards decent work in a sustainable, lowcarbon world, commissioned by the United
Nations Environment Programme, offers another definition of green jobs: “work in agricultural, manufacturing, research and development (R&D), administrative, and service activities that contribute substantially to preserving or restoring environmental quality.” In the table below, the report plots the greening potential, present progress and long term green job potential of different employment sectors. Based on this table, most of the sectors indicated have excellent potential for growth in the long term. Green jobs should be decent. Furthermore, the report stresses that a
LONG-TERM GREEN JOB POTENTIAL OF INDUSTRIES Greenig Potential ENERGY INDUSTRY
Renewables
Carbon Capture and Storage
Steel
FORESTRY
Excellent
Good
Fair
Fair
Fair
Fair
None
Fair
Pulp and Paper
Good
Fair
Fair
Recycling
Excellent
Fuel-Efficient Cars
Good
Fair to Good
Excellent
Excellent
Aviation
Limited
Limited
Excellent Limited
Excellent
Limited
Excellent
Excellent
Good
Excellent
Retrofitting
Excellent
Efficient Equipment and Appliances
Excellent
Small-Scale Sustainable Farming
Good
Negative
Limited
Green Building
Fair
Good
Excellent Excellent
Unknown
Limited
Mass Transit
Lighting
AGRICULTURE
Good
Good
Rail BUILDINGS
Excellent
Fair
Aluminum Cement
TRANSPORTATION
Green Jobs Long-Term Green Job Progress To-Date Potential
Limited Fair
Excellent Excellent
Excellent
Negative
Excellent
Oraganic Farming
Excellent
Limited
Good to Excellent
Reforestation/ Afforestaion
Good
Limited
Good
Good
Excellent
Environmental Services
Agroforestry
Sustainable Forestry Management
Good
Limited
Good to Excellent Excellent
Limited
Unknown
Good to Excellent
Source: Green Jobs: Towards decent work in a sustainable, low-carbon world (2008), United Nations Environmental Programme, p. 301.
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38 green job should provide decent work: “A job that is exploitative, harmful, fails to pay a living wage, and thus condemns workers to a life of poverty can hardly be hailed as green.” The report cites as examples the electronics recycling industry in Asia and biofuel feedstock plantations in Latin America, all of which do not take the welfare of its workers into consideration: workers are exposed to hazardous substances and denied freedom of association.
2. Substitution of some jobs due to the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy; 3. Elimination of some jobs without direct replacement; 4. Transformation and redefinition of many existing jobs (e.g. electricians, construction workers, etc.).
As seen in the table below, green and decent jobs exist, but so do jobs that are neither green nor decent. The goal, according to the report, is to create more green and decent jobs for the workforce.
The stages in the green shift. In the foreword to its 2011 study, Skills for Green Jobs: A Global View, the International Labour Organization writes: “Climate change and environmental degradation are jeopardizing the sustainability of many kinds of economic activity around the globe. At the same time, moving towards a greener economy is creating opportunities for new technologies, investment and jobs.”
Consequently, as mentioned in the UNEP report, a green economy will affect employment in at least four ways: 1. Creation of additional employment;
The study, a report that synthesizes 21 country studies, identifies three ways that green jobs can affect the skills of workers and employees.
GREEN AND DECENT JOBS: EQUAL HOPE FOR ENVIRONMENT, JOBHOLDER
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Green, but not decent Examples:
Green and decent Examples:
Electronics recycling without adequate occupational safety
Unionized wind and solar power jobs
Low-wage installers of solar panels
Green architects
Exploited biofuels plantation days laborers
Well-paid public transit employees
Neither green nor decent Examples:
Decent, but not green Examples:
coal mining with adequate safety
Unionized car manufacturing workers
Chemical engineers Women workers in the cut flower industry in Africa and in Airline pilots Latin America Hog slaughterhouse workers
DECENT WORK In a green economy, green architects and unionized wind and solar-power jobs will be decent, coal mining and butchering hogs won't be Source: Green Jobs: Towards decent work in a sustainable, low-carbon world (2008), United Nations Environmental Programme et al, p. 40.
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1. Green restructuring “This type of transformation occurs at industry level, causing structural shifts in economic activity, and thus in employment, between and within industries.” These structural changes will result in the decrease in demand for some occupations and skill profiles and increase demand for others. For an example, the ILO cites the shift to alternative sources or energy, such as wind and solar from fossil fuels. The table below shows the industries that will be most likely affected by green restructuring and its corresponding training needs. 2. New occupations The new occupations will be the outcome of “structural changes, the introduction of new regulations and the development of new technologies and practices.” A
solar technician is an example of a new occupation. 3. Greening existing jobs “New skills will be needed by workers in many existing occupations and industries.” The ILO says that learning new skills is the most common effect to workers and would result in the revision of existing school curricula, qualification standards and training programs. Timely supply of relevant and quality skills needed. The report stresses, “the timely supply of relevant and quality skills is indispensable for successful transformations that boost productivity, employment growth and development.” At the same time, the report offers a qualification: “Although new job opportunities arising from new lowcarbon markets are expected to offset the
THE SHIFT TO GREEN JOBS: WHAT WILL IT TAKE? Industry
Employment Effect
Type of Restructuring
Agriculture, forestry, including food/wood processing
Some jobs lost, but organic farming is estimated to have high growth potential
Employment shift towards manufacturing in developing countries and towards services in both developed and developing countries
Some food-processing industries are stable or gaining in employment, also absorbing agricultural workers
Intra-industry restructing
Biofuels expected to absorb some displaced agricultural workers Re-/afforestation projects expected to have positive impact on employment n forestry but negative impact of conversion of cropland
The
Countries affected
AUS, BGD, BRA, CHN, CRI, DEU, EGY, EST, FRA, GBR, KOR, IDN, IND, MLI, UGA
Training needs Retraining for new farming practices, crop diversification and organic farming Retraining in biofuel production and for new technologies Retraining of farmers as forestry workers Retraining for eco, rural and forest tourism Skills upgrading; sustainability skills; climatology/meteorology skills; ecocounselling; entrepreneural skills for farmers Complex use of timber and new technologies in wood processing
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Report Fisheries
40
Some job loses; some fisheries stable or gaining in employment, also absorbing agricultural workers
Employment shift towards manufacturing in developing countries and services in both developed and developing countries
BGD, CRI, MLI
Extractive industries and fossil fuel energy generation
Intra-industry Stable or losing jobs; projected to lose jobs in restructuring medium to long term Employment shifts towards other industries
Emissionsintensive
Losing jobs
intra-industry restructuring Employment shifts towards other indutries
Automotive
Retraining of agricultural workers Skills upgrading (sustainable fish/ seafood farming, aquaculture)
Intra-industry restructuring Absorbing land based farmers
Retraining for jobs in marine natural parks
AUS, BRA, CHN, DEU, EST, GBR, IDN, IND, MLI, PHL, USA, ZAF
Retraining (into e.g. renewable energies) Skills upgrading (sustainable practices, energgy and resource efficiency, new green technologies, clean coal, carbon captures and storage)
AUS, BRA, CHN, CRI, DEU, DNK, EGY, FRA, GBR, IDN, PHL, USA
Skills upgrading: core/portable skills; training for specialized sustainability skills
DEU, DNK, ESP, FRA, GBR, KOR, THA, USA
Skills upgrading for car mechanics, technician and engineers
Affected by economic crisis: job losses; may stabilize in medium term
Intra-industry restructuring into production of ecofriendly cars (hybrid, electric, hydrogen); increase in use of biofuels
Shipbuilding
Losing jobs
Employment shifts DNK, towards other industries GBR and market opportunities
Cement
Losing jobs
Employment shifts CHN towards other industries and market opportunities
Training for compliance with environment regulations Environmental impact assessment Change in production processes (energy and esource efficienccy, recycling, treatment of hazardous waste)
Training on design, maintenance and recycling, fuel efficiency
Retraining for other heavy industries, including installations for off-/onshore wind turbines and wave and tidal energy
Retraining
Skills upgrading (energy efficiency)
AUS=Australia, BGD=Bangladesh, BRA=Brazil, CHN=China, CRI=Costa Rics, DEU=Gernamy, DNK=Denmark, EGY=Egypt, ESP=Spain, EST=Estonia, FRA=France, GBR=the United Kingdom, IDN=Indonesia, IND=India, KOR=Republic of Korea, MLI=Mali, PHL=Philippines, THA=Thailand, UGA=Uganda, USA=the United States, ZAF=South Africa
Source: Skills for Green Jobs: A Global View (2011), International Labour Office, p. 65
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unemployment arising from the contraction of older, more carbon-intensive industries, the new green jobs will not necessarily go to those who have lost their old jobs.” The ILO considers low-skilled workers as most vulnerable to the transition to a green economy, for it will be hard for them to compete for the new jobs. Retraining and skills upgrading are “crucial to a successful, smooth and equitable transition to the low-carbon and green economy,” the report stresses.
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Asia's green-jobs challenge. A study by the Asia Business Council (ABC), Addressing Asia’s New Green Jobs Challenge, plots green jobs that will require green-industry-specific skills vis-à-vis those that will not require such skills. In addition, the table also shows green jobs that require a four-year university degree as compared to jobs that don’t (see table below). The table shows that there are green jobs that do not require industry-specific skills or a four-year university degree.
EDUCATION AND GREEN INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC SKILLS: DO YOU NEED ONE? Job Requirements
Does not require green industry-specific skills Requires green industry-specific skills
Requires four-year Construction engineers Electrical Engineers university degree or above Mechanical Engineers Civil Engineers Aerodynamic engineers Software engineers Material scientists Construction managers Industrial production managers Laboratory assistants investment bankers Venture capitalists
Does not require four-year Electricians university degree HVAC technicians Heating/air conditioning installers Carpenters Roofers Welders Metal fabricators Machinists Mechanics Compute-contro;;ed machine operators Engine and equipment assemblers Industrial truck drivers Iron and steel workers Millwrights Material handlers Laborers Retailers Marketers
Environmental architects Environmental engineers Photovolataic engineers Geotechnical engineers Agronomists Water and waste treatment engineers Ecologists Marine biologists Sustainability executives/managers Compliance managers Power grid integration managers Energy efficiency audiors/inspectors Carbon auditors Pollution monitoring consultants Health and safety officers Agricultural inspectors
Mixing and blending machine operators Sustainable farmers Farm product purchasers Recycling coordinators Carbon traders Eco tour guides Park rangers
Source: Addressing Asia’s New Green Jobs Challenge (2009), Asia Business Council, p. 14.
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42 The ABC report also ranks the green-jobs index of Asian countries based on greenjob postings, green-market potential, green-labor availability and green-job policies. China is the leader in the green-jobs index mainly due to the flourishing solar power industry in the country. India was also mentioned as having a big potential for growth because of its wind power industry. In the ABC's sample of 13 mostly Asian countries, the Philippines sits right in the middle of the pack, as shown in the chart below.
WHERE ARE THE GREEN JOBS IN ASIA?
The report says that in terms of green-job postings – the “actual current hiring needs of green industries and other industries that are looking for talent in their environmental or sustainability units” -- China leads the pack with about 3,000 daily postings, followed by India (1,600), Singapore (1,200)
Green jobs in the Philippines According to the International Labour Organization report, the Philippines is expected to benefit from a green economy due to the “generally labour-intensive nature of green jobs.” The ILO report also mentioned that green jobs in the Philippines will come from the organic agriculture sector, renewable energy sector, reforestation, and the expansion of the recycling sector, as described in the accompanying table. In August 2011, the Philippines held its First Philippine Green Jobs Conference, “a gathering of government, the private sector, employers, workers and the youth aimed at spreading awareness on how climate change affects the world of work.”
China Japan India Korea Singapore
According to its website, the conference aimed to “develop and enhance information links among various stakeholders to identify the new jobs, skills and competencies that should be acquired to ensure a just transition toward employmentfriendly resources.”
Hong Kong Philippines Taiwan Malaysia Indonesia
Meanwhile, here are some of the schools in the Philippines that offer “green” courses:
Thailand Vietnam Saudi Arabia 0
1
2
3
Green job postings Green market potential Green labor availability Green job policies Source: Addressing Asia’s New Green Jobs Challenge (2009), Asia Business Council, p. 6.
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1.University of the Philippines • Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science • M.S Program in Environmental Science • Ph.D in Environmental Science Programme 2.University of the Philipines, Los Banos • Certificate in Forestry • Bachelor of Science in Forestry • Master of Forestry • Master of Science in Forestry
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and Hong Kong (900). The Philippines is said to have several hundred daily greenjob postings. In terms of green-market potential or the potential for the expansion of greenindustry segments, China tops the list
again and is the leader in the following indicators: “electricity production by solar energy, number of LEED-registered green buildings, available land for sustainable agriculture, and certified emissions reduction credits from registered projects that can be traded.”
• Master of Science in Natural Resources Conservation • Doctor of Philosophy • Environmental Biology 3.Ateneo de Manila University • Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science • Master in Environmental Management • Master of Science in Environmental Science
• Ph.D. in Environmental Education • Ph.D. in Environmental Studies • Certificate in Environmental Management • Certificate in Environmental Studies • Certificate in Environmental Education 5.Emilio Aguinaldo College • Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science
4.Miriam College • Bachelor of Science in Environmental Planning and Management Corporate Environmental Management Track Urban Planning and Green Architecture Track • Master of Arts in Environmental Management • Master of Science in Environmental Studies
6.Technological University of the Philippines • Bachelor in Applied Science major in Environmental Science 7. De La Salle University Manila • MS in Environmental Science and Ecosystem Management
OCCUPATIONS THAT MAKE THE EARTH SMILE Area of employment Job opportunities
Area of Employment
Job opportuniteis
Industry
Academia
RE profesors/teachers Researchers Trainers
Rural electrification
Manufacturing
Sales/planning/project engineers Renewable energy (RE) Community organizers RE resource assessors RE component fabricators Village electricians Village electricians Micro-financiers RE project monitors Energy managers Energy auditors RE planners/engineers/ researchers
Government
Designers/engineers/draft- Livelihood/agriculture speople Metalworkers/tinsmiths/ welders Electricians Mechanics
Energy managers/ officers Energy auditores RE planners/engineers/researchers RE technicians/inspectors Rural development officers Community organizers Trainers
RE technicians Mechanics, electricians, welders Researchers Mechanics,electricians,welders
Source: Skills for Green Jobs: A Global View (2011), International Labour Office, p. 116.
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44 When it comes to green-labor availability, Japan emerges as the leader for its 29 universities offering “environment-related undergraduate and graduate programs.” China is in second place and the leader in the number of number of science and engineering graduates from four-year degree programs. Japan and Korea have the most proactive green job policies.
The ABC report cited the importance of government support for green industries and, consequently, green jobs to thrive. “If governments do not focus on the policy objectives of improving environmental health and ecosystem vitality, economies cannot be expected to have the kind of innovative environmental regulations and incentives that encourage green industry development,” the ABC report said.
“Korea is also a leader in green job policies, with an announcement in January 2009 of about $30 billion in investments on environmental projects,” the report said. In 2010, Korea launched its Sustainable and Green Tourism: Korea’s Green New Deal and 4 Rivers Restoration Project in 2010 and targets the creation of 863,060 green jobs this year.
Coherence in developing skills to match environmental policy. Similarly, the ILO report says that an important component to the transition to a low-carbon economy is that policies encouraging the development of skills necessary for a green economy should complement environmental policies, and vice versa. It added that many countries
COORDINATING SKILLS AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES: A NORTH-SOUTH COMPARISON Sound environmental policies Denmark Germany Spain UK Republic of Korea China
South Africa
Bangladesh Mali Uganda
Egypt
Costa Rica Estonia Brazil India
France
US Australia
Philippines Thailand Indonesia
Comprehensive skill policies for greening
The upper-right portion of the graph indicates better coherence between environmental and skills policies, while the lower-left portion indicates less coherence. Source: Skills for Green Jobs: A Global View (2011), International Labour Office, p. 33
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have implemented sound environmental policies, but have fallen short of developing the necessary associated skills policies. “The key to achieving policy coherence lies in designing the right institutional apparatus to ensure that policies are coordinated between different line ministries, and between ministries, social partners and other stakeholders,” the report elaborated. The diagram below shows how each country fared in implementing sound environmental policies that work well with the comprehensive skills policies. It is evident in the diagram that the European countries fared well and this is because “Europe has long been at the forefront of the environmental policy agenda.”
On the other hand, the Philippines was plotted on the lower left quadrant, indicating that the country did poorly when it comes to having a coherent policy that will support the growth of green industries. The shift to green jobs hopes to address two of the world’s problems: unemployment and climate change. What's not to like? Having said that, we also recognize that it will take some effort on the part of industries to retool, and on the part of government to harmonize its environmental policies while doing what it can to encourage the further development of green jobs and industries. The motivation – preventing and mitigating the effects of climate change – along with the means – adoption of new technologies – should be in plentiful supply.
Click your way to an environmentally friendly post Earthfirst.com has a list of websites where one can go to look for a green job. Here are the websites: 1. Green Jobs 2. Treehugger Job Board 3. Green Dream Jobs 4. Green Jobs Network 5. Green Careers by MonsterTRAK 6. Green Gigs 7. GreenBiz.com Career Center Other websites listing green jobs that were not mentioned in the Earthfirst list: 1. Greencareerguides.com 2. Environmentalcareer.com 3. Ecojobs.com 4. Sustainablebusiness.com 5. Greencollar.org
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The ten best eco-jobs for the next ten years In January 2009, business magazine Fast Company identified the Ten Best Green Jobs for the Next Decade: 1. Farmer The magazine cited food guru (and one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of the World) Michael Pollan, who says there is a huge need for more farmers -- up to tens of millions since sustainable agriculture requires small-scale, local, organic methods rather than petroleum-based machines and fertilizers.
According to greencareersguide.com, the career outlook for a photovoltaic solar panel installer is excellent as solar panels become smaller, more efficient and more affordable. 4. Energy Efficiency Builder “Energy efficient builders will be in high demand to help design environmentally friendly homes and office buildings that reduce waste, cut costs and lessen the effect on the planet,” OnlineCollege.org said. “Energy efficient builders are architects who specialize in designing and constructing structures that have less impact on the environment and conserve more energy than typical buildings,” the website explained further.
2. Forester According to a report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, forestry can create at least 10 million jobs. C.T.S. Nair, chief economist in the U.N. Forestry Department and one of the authors of the report, said that Asia and Africa could benefit the most.
5. Wind Turbine Fabricator According to Fast Company, wind is the leading and fastest-growing source of alternative energy with over 300,000 jobs worldwide. The magazine cited the American Wind Energy Association in reporting that the industry employed around 50,000 Americans, including 10,000 additional jobs in 2007 alone.
Also according to Nair, sustainable forestry “aims to prevent depletion of forests by managing them and making sure their use does not interfere with natural benefits or the local environment.”
6. Conservation Biologist The magazine quoted E.O. Wilson, “the granddaddy of diversity,” in calling conservation biology “a discipline with a deadline,” and said that the urgent quest to preserve the integrity of ecosystems around the world would translate into opportunities in teaching, research and fieldwork for government, nonprofits, and private companies.
3. Solar Power Installer Fast Company reported that about 770,000 jobs globally come from the solar power systems sector while the Solar Energy Industries Association forecasted that the industry could increase to over 110,000 jobs by 2016.
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Meanwhile, Michael E. Soule, in the article What is Conservation Biology?, published in the December
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1985 issue of BioScience, says that the goal of a conservation biologist is to “provide principles and tools for preserving biological diversity.” (The article is not free, the link is to the first page of his article.) 7. Green MBA and Entrepreneur According to Fast Company, the concept of the triple bottom line – profitability, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility – has become mainstream. It cited a recent report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors that found business services – e.g., legal, research and consulting – account for the majority of all green jobs, estimated at over 400,000. According to a podcast, Career Opportunities for Green MBAs: Generating Green $$ from the Green Movement, posted on mbapodcaster.com, the triple bottom line is the buzz in the business sector now, and business leaders have started to become aware of sustainability issues and will therefore need MBAs to help them in their “decision making process.” The host of the podcast, Heidi Pickman defined Sustainable MBA or Green MBA as “incorporat[ing] the study of managing for environmental and social factors with traditional business subjects such as finance, economic theory, business ethics and management.” 8. Recycler Fast Company reported that the total number of recycling jobs in the U.S. was more than 1 million at the time, and that while the market for recycled paper and plastic slowed down due to the economic downturn of 2008, demand for steel was still strong --
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42 percent of output came from scrap in 2006. It also said that new laws and regulations are creating a need for specialized companies that recycle e-waste, clothing, plastic bags, construction waste, and other materials. In a September 2011 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on “Careers in Recycling,” economist Drew Liming reports that, “Recycling has become an increasingly important issue in the United States as both the population and the amount of waste each person generates continue to increase.” A variety of jobs are available in this industry: from drivers, sorters, plant managers, technicians and mechanics to skilled personal in sales and logistics. 9. Sustainability Systems Developer According to Fast Company, “The green economy needs a cadre of specialized software developers and engineers who design, build, and maintain the networks of sensors and stochastic modeling that underpin wind farms, smart energy grids, congestion pricing and other systems substituting intelligence for natural resources.” 10. Urban Planner Fast Company predicted that by 2016, urban planners would register 15% employment growth in the U.S., primarily in the local government sector. According to greencareersguide.com, urban planners will “continue to play a vital role in the building of areas throughout the world” and it is important for them to undergo proper training in order to be “green conscious.”
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NEWS ON THE NET Technology
Google's Schmidt warns of 'digital caste system' In his annual Mobile World Congress keynote address last week, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt broached the topic of an imminent digital divide threatening to widen the gap between the rich and the poor. In Schmidt's projected future, those with access to broadband Internet connections, computers and handheld mobile devices will be able to better benefit from transformational technologies coming in the next ten years and beyond. The future for the privileged will include: driverless cars, robot proxies, ultrafast Internet connections, and 3D holographic videos. The poor will gain access to technologies as well, especially when gadgets and connectivity become more affordable and prevalent; but the advancements available on their financial level will be nothing in comparison to that available to the rich. "We need to act now to avoid the digital caste system I'm talking about," Schmidt asserts. "We can create a global network of equals." In addition to awareness of the impending divide, the good news is that access to technology and ensuing connectivity will increase dramatically for the poor very soon. The low-end smartphone market is booming, with players like Nokia and Microsoft joining in. Map technology applications company Skobbler co-founder Philipp Kandal discusses the appeal of the budget smartphone in a post on his personal blog. It is possible
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that in the next decade it will not be out of the ordinary to find, quite literally, a phone in every pocket. In conclusion, Schmidt continues, "No one is saying technology will suddenly change the world's social structure, but connectivity changes lives."
"They were done using a much more deplorable technique: the use of spies and informants within the collective.” In retaliation, the group launched an attack which knocked Interpol's website offline for several hours last Tuesday.
Interpol sweep nets Twitter partners with 25 Anonymous Datasift to unlock suspects tweet archive Hacktivist group Anonymous took a hit last week as 25 suspected members were arrested in Interpol sweeps across two continents. Suspects ranging from 17 to 40 years in age were picked up in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Spain. Authorities were reported to have seized 250 items – IT equipment, mobile phones, payment cards, and cash – during searches spanning 40 homes and businesses in 15 cities. "This operation shows that crime in the virtual world does have real consequences for those involved, and that the Internet cannot be seen as a safe haven for criminal activity, no matter where it originates or where it is targeted," Bernd Rossbach, Interpol's executive director of police services, was quoted as saying in an official statement. Anonymous has also come out with a statement, alleging that the operation was the result of infiltration. “This wave of arrests was not the product of intelligence or technical wizardry on the part of Interpol, like they want you to believe," Anonymous claims.
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Until last week, only Twitter tweets from the last 30 days were available for companies to sift through. Personal users, on the other hand, can access posts from the last seven days. UK-based company Datasift has changed all that by partering with Twitter in an effort to monetize the social media outfit's archive. Calling it a "brand new service," Datasift marketing manager Tim Barker explains that businesses will now be able to search and analyze two years' worth of Twitter updates in the name of market research. The cost is variable; Datasift's entrylevel package for "individuals or developers" costs around US$1000 monthly. Twitter has come under fire recently for its changes in its censorship policy, and is now dealing with privacy issues that the Datasift partnership has raised. After its key role in the Arab Spring uprisings, the world has realized how powerful social media is in terms of promoting change, and has started treating industry leaders Twitter and Facebook accordingly.
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