30 May 2017 – To contain the latest outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) provided technical support to 145 volunteers of the Congolese Red Cross and community health workers to deliver lifesaving information to local populations in remote areas along the Central African Republic border.

“Working in close collaboration with health workers and communities was the best way to inform the public quickly about protection measures against Ebola, and to prevent propagation of the disease,” said Christophe Boulierac, UNICEF spokesperson, during a regular briefing in Geneva.

Under the coordination of national health authorities, and in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF trained on how to chlorinate water and disinfect homes to avoid the spread of the disease, as well as on the importance of hand washing and ways to adapt local burial practices to reduce contamination risks.

Encouraging people to visit their local health centre in case of illness during the epidemic, the DRC Government decided to make the health services available free of charge in the affected health zone of Likati.

In addition, a European Union-funded flight helped UNICEF send supplies and medicines to health facilities in the Likati area.

“It was a very hard-to-reach area and teams could only access it by motorcycle and on foot. This limited propagation of the disease, but also presented an additional challenge for bringing in medical supplies,” Mr. Boulierac elaborated.

“As of 29 May, there were 19 Ebola cases, out of which two were laboratory-confirmed, four were probable and 13 suspected,” said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier. “Out of those 19 cases, there were four deaths, out of which only one was laboratory-confirmed and one was probable.”

He also stated that as of that same time, there were still 294 contacts under follow-up, and as many cases had already been dismissed, it was important to look into various other options.

“A number of diseases could be responsible, such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, yellow fever, shigella, typhoid, dengue, and salmonella. Individual cases in the different villages could have different pathogens,” he explained.

Asked about vaccination, Mr. Lindmeier said the protocol for the possible ring vaccination had been formally approved by the national regulatory authorities and the DRC Government with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) along with WHO support.

He added that other partners were working on detailed readiness planning for experimental vaccine use, to deploy as soon as possible, if needed.

The international vaccine deployment and cold chain shipment to DRC was not advised at this point, as there were only two confirmed Ebola cases and no new cases had been seen for a while now, he pointed out.

“There is no automatic trigger point for the ring vaccination, but the moment there would be a new case it would be looked at very carefully,” he said.

The authorities, MSF and WHO and partners were in constant contact on this.

30 May 2017 – Condemning “in the strongest terms” recent terrorist attacks in Iraqi capital, Baghdad, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today underscored the need to swiftly apprehend and prosecute its perpetrators.

In a statement attributable to his spokesperson, Secretary-General Guterres also “reiterated that the United Nations will continue to stand by the Government and people of Iraq in their efforts to fight terrorism.”

The attacks come in the midst of the holy month of Ramadan, a period marked with fasting, charity and prayers.

Also in the statement, Mr. Guterres expressed his deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured.

According to reports, at least 26 people were killed and many more wounded in two explosions that tore through two locations in the Iraqi capital.

30 May 2017 – Two United Nations agencies today pledged to join forces and “go the extra mile” by expanding operations in Libya and enhancing their support to migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and Libyans affected by the ongoing conflict.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, joined William Lacy Swing, the Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), at a senior-level briefing at IOM’s Geneva headquarters where they briefed member States on their recent missions to Libya and called for support to broader stabilization efforts in the country.

The High Commissioner’s Office (UNHCR) issued today a Supplementary Appeal for $75.5 million to meet the increased humanitarian and protection needs of people in Libya – including internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities, as well as refugees and asylum seekers.

The appeal includes protection monitoring and interventions, as well as advocacy on issues related to respect for human rights, access to basic services, asylum procedures and freedom of movement.

“We have urgent work to do in Libya and can only do it together,” said Mr. Grandi, adding: “We are going the extra mile in trying to make a difference for hundreds of thousands of people.”

Last week, UNHCR warned that hundreds of thousands of people in the crisis-gripped North African country have been affected by the collapse of law and order, absent or insufficient health care assistance, essential medicines, food, safe drinking water, shelter and education.

RELATED: UN refugee agency ramps up response as Libya’s humanitarian crisis deepens

For its part, IOM in April launched a three-year Action Plan for Libya with two key objectives. The first is to provide evidence based humanitarian assistance and protection to both displaced Libyans and migrants. The second objective is to stabilize Libyan communities, as well as to build Libyan capacities in migration management. That appeal is for in excess of $180 million, lasting for a total of 36 months.

“While IOM has already started to implement the Action Plan, thanks to funding from some donors, greater financial support is needed in order to urgently assist and protect migrants and conflict affected populations in Libya,” Director General Swing said. He emphasized all IOM activities are coordinated and implemented in cooperation with the Libyan authorities and UNHCR.

30 May 2017 – Shigeatsu Hatakeyama’s oyster farm was completely destroyed by the deadly tsunami that hit north-east Japan in March 2011.

“I thought to myself my business was over,” says 74-year-old Hatakeyama, who is known as ‘Grandpa Oyster,’ a nickname given by the schoolchildren in his environmental education programme.  

To his surprise, however, the conditions conducive to oyster farming in Kesennuma Bay came back quickly.  He believes the recovery can be attributed to the tree-planting movement he and his fishing community initiated decades ago in the upstream of Okawa River that flows into the Bay.              

Mr. Hatakeyama is the president of the non-profit organization “Mori wa Umi no Koibito” (The forest is longing for the sea, the sea is longing for the forest), whose activities focus on reforestation and environmental education. He was also one of the recipients of the UN Forest Hero Award in 2012.

Ahead of the United Nations Ocean Conference, Mr. Hatakeyama spoke with UN News and explained how the forest environment is interlinked to marine production.

UN News: What led you to start the reforestation movement “The forest is longing for the sea, the sea is longing for the forest?”

Shigeatsu Hatakeyama: The movement started in 1989. Oysters grow in areas of brackish waters where a river meets the sea.  You cannot grow oysters just with salt water. Fresh water is necessary. For instance, Hiroshima, a well-known oyster production site, has brackish water areas at the mouth of the Ota River. Okawa flows into Kesennuma Bay, where our oyster farm is situated. Nutrients from upstream forests that a river carries raise phytoplankton, which oysters feed on.

About 40 years ago, a red tide occurred in the bay. Red tide is caused by human activities on the land side. It does not come from offshore. A shell of oyster inhales 200 litres of water a day. The body of oysters turned red and they were called ‘blood oysters,’ which were not sellable in markets and had to all be disposed of. This incident was the starting point for our fishing community to launch a campaign to regain the blue sea.

I also had a first-hand experience that deepened my understanding of the link between forests, rivers and the ocean

I also had a first-hand experience that deepened my understanding of the link between forests, rivers and the ocean. One day, a French scholar visited a research facility in the Kesennuma area.  At her invitation, I visited France, a country known for oyster farming. I was very impressed with a variety of seafood produced in the estuary of Loire. There was a huge forest of deciduous broad-leaved trees along the river. I rediscovered the link among forests, rivers and the ocean. A good forest raises a good ocean.

The academic world is vertically divided. Forest, river and sea are placed in different academic fields. There were few scholars who can elucidate the relationship between forest, rivers and the ocean in a holistic manner. American scholar John Martin discovered that plankton does not grow in some waters that lack iron. The sea becomes anaemic if iron is not provided. I found that Hokkaido University professor Katsuhiko Matsunaga was also saying that forests grow a rich ocean.  His research gave scientific justification for our movement of planting trees upstream of rivers. Dams stop the flow of iron into the ocean. 

Farmers usually do not take the ocean into account when they grow crops. If inhabitants in the river basin do not think about the seas, oyster production sites will vanish.

UN News: What impact did the East Japan Great Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011 have on your oyster business?

Shigeatsu Hatakeyama: It was beyond an impact. A 20-metre-high tsunami brought complete destruction and I lost everything, from boats, aquaculture rafts and other equipment like refrigerators. Honestly, I thought to myself ‘my business is over.’ All living creatures disappeared. But by May (about two months after the disaster), living beings started to re-emerge. When a Kyoto University research team came, I was eager to know the status of plankton in the bay as there was speculation that the sea was dead. A member of the research mission said: ‘Mr. Hatakeyama, please rest assured. There are more plankton than oysters can eat.’

Hearing that, I was convinced that I could revive my oyster farming business. The researcher attributed the quick comeback of the sea’s condition to the forests upstream. This experience proved the legitimacy of our reforestation movement. In the following year, I received the UN Forest Hero Award.

UN News: As a recipient of the UN Forest Hero Award, what kind of outcome do you expect from the UN Ocean Conference to be held in June?

Shigeatsu Hatakeyama: Research on the relationship between the ocean and forest is progressing. As you know, waters off Japan’s Sanriku Coast form one of the world’s top three fishing grounds. In fishery high school, I was taught that the condition for the fertile waters was created by the collision of Black and Parental currents. But new studies suggest that the forests – five times larger than Japan’s land – around the Amur River, which runs along the border of eastern Russia and northern China, produce iron that does not oxidize. The Amur carries this type of iron into the Sea of Okhotsk, and iron flows via the Bussol Strait of the Kuril Islands into the northern Pacific Ocean, where the Sanriku fishing ground is situated.

It has become clear now that the source of iron in the waters off Japan’s Sanriku Coast is the forests in the Russian-Chinese border. Many fishery and ocean experts are expected to participate in the UN Ocean Conference. But it is meaningless to hold the meeting if they forget to discuss the link between the forest and the ocean.

It is important to teach children how forests, rivers and the ocean are connected

UN News: Please share your thoughts about the importance of human resource development and youth education.

Shigeatsu Hatakeyama: If you don’t share the values with people living in the river basin, the sea will get contaminated. This is not a matter of natural science but a problem created by humans. It is important to teach children how forests, rivers and the ocean are connected. We started educating children one year after our reforestation movement began. We planted trees not only in the mountains, but also in the minds of boys and girls. We have educated more than 10,000 children.

UN News: How do you feel about being nicknamed ‘Grandpa Oyster?’

Shigeatsu Hatakeyama: I could not use water for two months after the 2011 tsunami. My beard grew unkempt and I probably looked like Colonel Sanders, the founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken fast-food chain. Elementary school children enrolled in our on-site environmental education programme started calling me ‘Grandpa Oyster.’ Now at 74, I feel I have reached an appropriate age to be called a grandpa.  

UN News: What kind of contributions does your movement make to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals?

Shigeatsu Hatakeyama: Because I am just a fisherman, I cannot say big things. But I say this. The four major civilizations in the world originated in river basins. Civilization will perish if you destroy the river basin environment. In Japan, 35,000 rivers are flowing into the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean. However, many river basins are sick. This is not sustainable. We need to restore the original condition. When the ocean gets better, you can reap more fish for sushi. Then, sushi prices will go down. So, it’s good for food security and for the economy of the local communities.

UN News: What is your dream?

Shigeatsu Hatakeyama: My father started our family’s oyster business. My three sons are now running it. If my grandson, who is in high school now, succeeds, our business will have lasted 100 years. This is sustainability to the letter, isn’t it? If the river basin environment is preserved, a sustainable life will continue even in remote seaside areas. I hope to prove that and continue communicating these linkages through my real-life example.   .