Global Action Agenda Research Articles

Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls as a Global Action Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals

Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls as a Global Action Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals

Activity and Durability of Titanium Oxide-Based Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Alkaline Solution

On Oct. 14, 2020, Hydrogen energy ministerial meeting (H2 EM 2020) was held by the ministry of economy, trade and industry (METI) of Japanese government as online special event with cabinet members and officials from 23 countries, regions, and organizations. In the meeting, “Global Action Agenda (GAA) Progress Report” was released as the chairman’s summary to share the progress of technical development for hydrogen-based society. In the open session, presenter from industrial company of water electrolysis introduced to improve its technologies for producing hydrogen from renewable energies [1]. In our previous study, the hydrogen producing from renewable energies is called as “Green Hydrogen” [2].Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) has already commercialized all over the world and recently applied its system for the Power-to-Gas (PtG) in Europe and Japan such as Fukushima hydrogen energy research field (FH2R). In the FH2R, one of the largest module of AWE has operated from 2020 and this module also introduced in GAA progress report as shown in above. However, it is reported that the degradation of Ni anode shows operating by variable renewable energy (VNE) [3]. From this point of view, the alternative anode with high durability against VNE should be required for green hydrogen production. We focused on titanium oxide-based electrocatalyst (TiOx) and have studied its catalytic activity for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) [4-5]. In this study, we have investigated the activity and durability of TiOx with and without Ni addition for the OER in alkaline solution.Two types of TiOx with 1 mol% of Ni (Ni-TiOx as shown in the following section) and without addition were prepared under oxygen starvation atmosphere, and then formed as rod shape (φ = 5.0 mm, Toshima manufacturing Co., Ltd.). We used conventional three electrode cell with each sample as working electrode while the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and carbon plate were used as reference and counter electrode to demonstrate the electrochemical measurement. In order to evaluate the OER activity of samples, the slow scan voltammetry (SSV) was performed from 1.2 to 2.0 V vs. RHE in 7 M KOH at 303 K. In the case of durability evaluation, the acceleration degradation test (ADT) was demonstrated from 0 to 2.0 V under scan rate of 1 Vs-1 for 20000 cycle, and then SSV was performed as described in above to compared with initial OER activity.Figure 1 shows Tafel plots of OER on Ti oxide-based electrocatalysts. The results of initial Ni wire and TiOx are also shown in this figure. The current density was based on geometric surface area. According to Ni addition with very small amount, the catalytic activity for the OER on Ti oxide-based electrocatalyst has obviously enhanced, and the Tafel slope of initial OER on Ni-TiOx was 52 mV dec-1 the while the that on the TiOx and Ni wire were 180 and 47 mV dec-1. Moreover, the OER activity of Ni-TiOx after ADT has higher than that of initial Ni-TiOx, and Ni-TiOx does not show the degradation by ADT while the geometric current density at 1.6 V of TiOx after ADT for 5000 cycle was 10% lower than that before ADT. Above all, the Ni addition to Ti oxide based-electrocatalyst has improved for both the catalytic activity for the OER and the durability against VRE.Acknowledgement: This work is partially supported by Toyota Mobility Foundation.Reference https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2020/1015_001.htmlK. Ota, A. Ishihara, K. Matsuzawa, and S. Mitsushima, Electrochemistry, 78, 970 (2010).H. Ichikawa, K. Matsuzawa, Y. Kohno, I. Nagashima, Y. Sunada, Y. Nishiki, A. Manabe, and S. Mitsushima, ECS Trans., 58(33), 9 (2014).R. Suzuki, A. Ishihara, K. Ota and K. Matsuzawa, Abst. ECS 236th Meeting, Z01-2382, Atlanta, GA (2019).R. Suzuki, A. Ishihara, and K. Matsuzawa, Abst. PRiME 2020, Z01-3627, Online (2020). Figure 1

A global health action agenda for the Biden administration

Joe Biden will assume the US presidency at a time of unprecedented global health crises, with the COVID-19 pandemic and major setbacks in reducing poverty, hunger, and disease. The COVID-19 pandemic offers rare opportunities for the US President-elect to spearhead long-overdue structural changes and revitalise global health leadership. Building trust among global partners will be challenging, given the USA's withdrawal from, and disruption of, international cooperation under the presidency of Donald Trump. The USA will have to lead in a different, more collaborative way. Here, we offer a Global Action Agenda for the Biden Administration.

Oxygen Evolution Reaction of Mo Oxide-Based Electocatalysts Doped with Different Metals in Acid Solution

At end of February in 2020, Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field (FH2R) has started to operate with a renewable energy-powered 10MW-class hydrogen production unit, which is the largest-class in the world. These kinds of “Green Hydrogen” [1] production technologies will be accelerated not only in Japan but also all over the world because “Global Action Agenda” was released and many presentations were also given by international organizations in Hydrogen energy ministerial meeting (H2 EM 2019) which was held in Tokyo, last year with cabinet members and officials from 35 countries, regions, and organizations.In FH2R, the newest system of water electrolysis has installed. In Japan, not only alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) but also polymer electrolyte water electrolysis (PEWE) have been developed. Compared with AWE, PEWE is partly commercialized procedure to produce the hydrogen with high purity. However, one of the issue of PEWE is iridium oxide (IrO2) anode that is one of the precious metal oxide with poor resources. In order to utilize the PEWE system applying for green hydrogen production in large scale with low cost, we focused on the molybdenum-oxide based electrocatalyst (MoOx) as alternative anode materials because of its low cost compared with precious metal oxide [2-4]. In this study, we have investigated the catalytic activity of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on MoOx with and without doping.Ti rod was used as substarate. Mo oxide-based electrocatalyst was prepared by RF magnetron sputtering method. Mo disc was used as the sputtering target. In the case of fabrication for Zr- and Ta-MoOx, Zr or Ta piece for 10% surface area was set on the Mo disc as doping material. Each partial pressure of Ar and O2 gas was adjusted to 0.23 Pa in fabrication of MoOx, Zr-MoOx and Ta-TiOx. The substrate heating temperature was constant at 673 K during sputtering. We used conventional three electrode cell with each sample as working electrode while the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and carbon plate were used as reference and counter electrode to demonstrate the electrochemical measurement. In order to evaluate the OER activity of samples, the slow scan voltammetry was performed from 1.2 to 2.5 V vs. RHE in 1 M H2SO4 solution at 303 K. We also carried out electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to obtain resistance components and semiconducting properties.Figure 1 shows the slow scan voltammograms of OER on Zr-MoOx, Ta-MoOx, and MoOx. The Zr-MoOx in this study have larger current densities than that of Ta-MoOx and MoOx. It was found that that Zr doping was effective for enhancing the OER activity of MoOx. According to Mott-Schottky plots, all samples whether doping or non-doping showed n-type semiconductor while flat band potential of Zr-MoOx was smaller than that of Ta-MoOx and MoOx.Acknowledgement: This work is partially supported by Toyota Mobility Foundation.Reference K. Ota, A. Ishihara, K. Matsuzawa, and S. Mitsushima, Electrochemistry, 78, 970 (2010).S. Hirayama, A. Ishihara, K. Sumi, K. Ota, and K. Matsuzawa, Proc. 39th Symp. Hydrogen Ener. Syst Soc Jpn (HESS), p.99 (2019) (in Japanese).K. Matsuzawa, K. Sumi, S. Hirayama, Y. Kuroda, S. Mitsushima, K. Ota and A. Ishihara, Abst. 237th ECS Meeting, I02-1551 (2020).S. Hirayama, A. Ishihara, K. Sumi, and K. Matsuzawa, Proc. 27th FCDIC Fuel Cell Symp., P9 (2020) (in Japanese). Figure 1

Oxygen Evolution Reaction of Ti and Mo Oxide-Based Electocatalysts in Acid Solution

On Oct. 25, 2019, Hydrogen energy ministerial meeting (H2 EM 2019) was held in Tokyo, Japan with cabinet members and officials from 35 countries, regions, and organizations. In the meeting, “Global Action Agenda” was released as the chairman’s summary, and many presentations were also given by international organizations. In the sector-integration workshop in this meeting, several presenters from industrial company of water electrolysis expected to improve its technologies for producing hydrogen from renewable energies. In our research center, the hydrogen producing from renewable energies is called as “Green Hydrogen” [1].Polymer electrolyte water electrolysis (PEWE) is partly commercialization procedure to produce the hydrogen with high purity. Recently, it has been developed to be large scale for applying the Power-to-Gas (PtG) in Europe. However, the conventional anode uses an iridium oxide that is one of the precious metal oxide with poor resources. In order to utilize the PEWE system applying for PtG and "Hreen hydrogen" production in large scale with low cost, we focused on the titanium- and molybdenum-oxide based electrocatalyst (TiOx and MoOx) as alternative anode materials because of its low cost with abundant resources compared with precious metal oxide. In addition, it is reported that the overpotential of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on molybdenum (Mo) doped TiOx (Mo-TiOx) was predicted to be similar to that of IrO2 from the density functional theory calculation [2-3]. In this study, we have investigated the catalytic activity of TiOx and MoOx with and without doping for the OER.Ti rod was used as substarate. Ti and Mo oxide-based electrocatalyst was prepared by RF magnetron sputtering method. Ti or Mo disc was used as the sputtering target. In the case of fabrication for Mo-TiOx, a piece of Mo metal as 10% surface area for Ti metal was set on the Ti disc as doping material. Each partial pressure of Ar and O2 gas was adjusted to 0.23 Pa in fabrication of TiOx and Mo-TiOx. In the case of fabrication MoOx, partial pressure of O2 was fix at 0.10 Pa. The substrate heating temperature was constant at 373 K during sputtering. The output was set on 150 W, and sputtering time was constant for 20 minutes. We used conventional three electrode cell with each sample as working electrode while the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and carbon plate were used as reference and counter electrode to demonstrate the electrochemical measurement. In order to evaluate the OER activity of samples, the slow scan voltammetry was performed from 1.2 to 2.0 V vs. RHE in 1 M H2SO4 solution at 303 K.Figure 1 shows the slow scan voltammograms of OER on Ti and Mo oxide-based electrocatalysts. The result of ZrO2 on conductive oxide (ZrO2/ConOx) [4] is also shown in this figure. The Mo-TiOx/Ti and MoOx/Ti in this study have obviously larger current densities than that of ZrO2/ConOx and TiOx/Ti. The Tafel slope of OER on Mo-TiOx/Ti was 91 mV dec-1 the while the that on the ZrO2/ConOx, MoOx/Ti and TiOx/Ti were larger than 180 mV dec-1. Because of the smallest Tafel slope and the largest current density on Mo-TiOx/Ti in this study, the Mo doping is effective for enhancing OER activities. According to Mott-Schottky plots, the Mo-TiOx/Ti seemed to have higher carrier concentration than that of TiOx/Ti while both materials showed as n-type semiconductors. Above all, the Mo-TiOx/Ti has higher activity for the OER than other materials in this study.Acknowledgement: This work is partially supported by Toyota Mobility Foundation.Reference 1. K. Ota, A. Ishihara, K. Matsuzawa, and S. Mitsushima, Electrochemistry, 78, 970 (2010).2. M. Garca-Mota, A. Vojvodic, H. Metiu, I. C. Man, H-Y. Su, J. Rossmeisl, and J. K. Norskov, ChemCatChem, 3, 1607 (2011).3. X. Huang, J. Wang, H. B. Tao, H. Tiana and H. Xu, Chem. Sci., 10, 3340 (2019).4. K. Matsuzawa, K. Sumi, Y. Kuroda, S. Mitsushima, and A. Ishihara, Abst. 16th Annual Meeting of Soc. Nano Sci. Tech., #O-33, Tokyo, Jpn (2018) (in Japanese). Figure 1

Understanding rivers and their social relations: A critical step to advance environmental water management.

River flows connect people, places, and other forms of life, inspiring and sustaining diverse cultural beliefs, values, and ways of life. The concept of environmental flows provides a framework for improving understanding of relationships between river flows and people, and for supporting those that are mutually beneficial. Nevertheless, most approaches to determining environmental flows remain grounded in the biophysical sciences. The newly revised Brisbane Declaration and Global Action Agenda on Environmental Flows (2018) represents a new phase in environmental flow science and an opportunity to better consider the co-constitution of river flows, ecosystems, and society, and to more explicitly incorporate these relationships into river management. We synthesize understanding of relationships between people and rivers as conceived under the renewed definition of environmental flows. We present case studies from Honduras, India, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia that illustrate multidisciplinary, collaborative efforts where recognizing and meeting diverse flow needs of human populations was central to establishing environmental flow recommendations. We also review a small body of literature to highlight examples of the diversity and interdependencies of human-flow relationships—such as the linkages between river flow and human well-being, spiritual needs, cultural identity, and sense of place—that are typically overlooked when environmental flows are assessed and negotiated. Finally, we call for scientists and water managers to recognize the diversity of ways of knowing, relating to, and utilizing rivers, and to place this recognition at the center of future environmental flow assessments.This article is categorized under:Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and AwarenessHuman Water > Water GovernanceHuman Water > Water as Imagined and Represented

Reducing Food Loss and Waste: Setting a Global Action Agenda

The world is at a critical moment in the fight against food loss and waste, with momentum building to address the 1.3 billion tons of food that is lost or wasted each year. But action is not yet at a pace needed to achieve SDG Target 12.3 by 2030. The report Reducing Food Loss and Waste: Setting a Global Action Agenda identifies a three-pronged approach to halve food loss and waste by 2030. The report calls on governments, companies, farmers, consumers, and everyone in between to: “Target-Measure-Act”: Set food loss and waste reduction targets, measure to identify hotspots of food loss and waste and monitor progress over time, and take action on the hotspots; pursue a short “to-do” list per player in the food supply chain as “no regret” first steps toward taking action; and collaborate on 10 “scaling interventions” to ramp up deployment of Target-Measure-Act and the to-do list. There are enormous benefits to reducing food loss and waste. Successfully halving food loss and waste would close the gap between food needed in 2050 and food available in 2010 by more than 20 percent. It would avoid the need to convert an area the size of Argentina into agricultural land. And it would lower greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5 gigatons per year by 2050, an amount more than the current energy- and industry- related emissions of Japan. This report has been produced by World Resources Institute with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, and in partnership with United Nations Environment, Natural Resources Defense Council, Iowa State University, The University of Maryland’s Ed Snider Center, The Consortium for Innovation in Postharvest Loss and Food Waste Reduction, Wageningen University and Research, the World Bank, and WRAP.

The Brisbane Declaration and Global Action Agenda on Environmental Flows (2018)

A decade ago, scientists and practitioners working in environmental water management crystallized the progress and direction of environmental flows science, practice, and policy in The Brisbane Declaration and Global Action Agenda (2007), during the 10th International Riversymposium and International Environmental Flows Conference held in Brisbane, Australia. The 2007 Declaration highlights the significance of environmental water allocations for humans and freshwater-dependent ecosystems, and sets out a nine-point global action agenda. This was the first consensus document that bought together the diverse experiences across regions and disciplines, and was significant in setting a common vision and direction for environmental flows internationally. After a decade of uptake and innovation in environmental flows, the 2007 declaration and action agenda was revisited at the 20th International Riversymposium and Environmental Flows Conference, held in Brisbane, Australia, in 2017. The objective was to publicize achievements since 2007 and update the declaration and action agenda to reflect collective progress, innovation, and emerging challenges for environmental flows policy, practice and science worldwide. This paper on The Brisbane Declaration and Global Action Agenda on Environmental Flows (2018) describes the inclusive consultation processes that guided the review of the 2007 document. The 2018 Declaration presents an urgent call for action to protect and restore environmental flows and aquatic ecosystems for their biodiversity, intrinsic values, and ecosystem services, as a central element of integrated water resources management, and as a foundation for achievement of water-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Global Action Agenda (2018) makes 35 actionable recommendations to guide and support implementation of environmental flows through legislation and regulation, water management programs, and research, linked by partnership arrangements involving diverse stakeholders. An important new element of the Declaration and Action Agenda is the emphasis given to full and equal participation for people of all cultures, and respect for their rights, responsibilities and systems of governance in environmental water decisions. These social and cultural dimensions of e-flow management warrant far more attention. Actionable recommendations present a pathway forward for a new era of scientific research and innovation, shared visions, collaborative implementation programs, and adaptive governance of environmental flows, suited to new social, and environmental contexts driven by planetary pressures, such as human population growth and climate change.

Elimination of violence against women and girls as a global action agenda.

:This article outlines the goals and targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to elimination of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and to explain the framework to target these goals. Prevention of VAWG has been identified as one of the key agents for sustainable development. SDGs gave enough importance and called for the elimination of “all forms of violence against all women and girls everywhere”. It identified different social and political enablers of reducing violence which are targeted under different SDGs. This acknowledges tacitly that VAWG is preventable and it is set to prevent and eliminate it. Evidences show that preventing VAWG is possible through multi-sectorial programs. The United Nations committed to revitalized global partnership to mobilize resources for implementing the agenda. Hence, designing and implementing interventions and subsequently scaling-up and intensifying these interventions are required to end VAWG.

Challenges in defining and classifying the preterm birth syndrome

In 2009, the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth Conference charged the authors to propose a new comprehensive, consistent, and uniform classification system for preterm birth. This first article reviews issues related to measurement of gestational age, clinical vs etiologic phenotypes, inclusion vs exclusion of multifetal and stillborn infants, and separation vs combination of pathways to preterm birth. The second article proposes answers to the questions raised here, and the third demonstrates how the proposed system might work in practice.

Global report on preterm birth and stillbirth (7 of 7): mobilizing resources to accelerate innovative solutions (Global Action Agenda)

BackgroundPreterm birth and stillbirth are complex local and global health problems requiring an interdisciplinary approach and an international commitment. Stakeholders developed recommendations for a Global Action Agenda (GAA) at the 2009 International Conference on Prematurity and Stillbirth. The primary goal of this GAA is to forge a collaborative effort toward achieving common goals to prevent preterm birth and stillbirth, and to improve related maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes.Conference participantsGAPPS co-convened this four-day conference with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, March of Dimes, PATH, Save the Children, UNICEF and the World Health Organization. Participants included about 200 leading international researchers, policymakers, health care practitioners and philanthropists. A near-final draft of this report was sent three weeks in advance to help co-chairs and participants prepare for workgroup discussions.Global Action AgendaTwelve thematic workgroups, composed of interdisciplinary experts, made recommendations on short-, intermediate-, and long-term milestones, and success metrics. Recommendations are based on the following themes: (1) advance discovery of the magnitude, causes and innovative solutions; (2) promote development and delivery of low-cost, proven interventions; (3) improve advocacy efforts to increase awareness that preterm birth and stillbirth are leading contributors to the global health burden; (4) increase resources for research and implementation; and (5) consider ethical and social justice implications throughout all efforts.SummaryThe conference provided an unprecedented opportunity for maternal, newborn and child health stakeholders to create a collaborative strategy for addressing preterm birth and stillbirth globally. Participants and others have already completed or launched work on key milestones identified in the GAA. Updates will be provided at www.gapps.org.

Global report on preterm birth and stillbirth (6 of 7): ethical considerations.

IntroductionDespite the substantial global burden of preterm and stillbirth, little attention has been given to the ethical considerations related to research and interventions in the global context. Ethical dilemmas surrounding reproductive decisions and the care of preterm newborns impact the delivery of interventions, and are not well understood in low-resource settings. Issues such as how to address the moral and cultural attitudes surrounding stillbirths, have cross-cutting implications for global visibility of the disease burden. This analysis identifies ethical issues impacting definitions, discovery, development, and delivery of effective interventions to decrease the global burden of preterm birth and stillbirth.MethodsThis review is based on a comprehensive literature review; an ethical analysis of other articles within this global report; and discussions with GAPPS's Scientific Advisory Council, team of international investigators, and a community of international experts on maternal, newborn, and child health and bioethics from the 2009 International Conference on Prematurity and Stillbirth. The literature review includes articles in PubMed, Academic Search Complete (EBSCO), and Philosopher's Index with a range of 1995-2008.ResultsAdvancements in discovery science relating to preterm birth and stillbirth require careful consideration in the design and use of repositories containing maternal specimens and data. Equally important is the need to improve clinical translation from basic science research to delivery of interventions, and to ensure global needs inform discovery science agenda-setting. Ethical issues in the development of interventions include a need to balance immediate versus long-term impacts—such as caring for preterm newborns rather than preventing preterm births. The delivery of interventions must address: women's health disparities as determinants of preterm birth and stillbirth; improving measurements of impact on equity in coverage; balancing maternal and newborn outcomes in choosing interventions; and understanding the personal and cross-cultural experiences of preterm birth and stillbirth among women, families and communities.ConclusionEfforts to improve visibility, funding, research and the successful delivery of interventions for preterm birth and stillbirth face a number of ethical concerns. Thoughtful input from those in health policy, bioethics and international research ethics helped shape an interdisciplinary global action agenda to prevent preterm birth and stillbirth.

Sustaining the Flow of the World's Rivers

This article reports on the 2007 International Riversymposium and Environmental Flow Conference held in Brisbane, Australia. The conference featured more than 150 presentations describing the ongoing degradation of rivers and the socioeconomic effects the degradation is having on the people who depend on rivers for their livelihoods. Some of the presentations also offered some field‐tested solutions for better protecting or restoring rivers. Particular focus was given to maintaining adequate river flows (referred to as environmental flows or instream flows). Some of the world's largest rivers now dry up on a regular basis before reaching the sea because their waters are heavily used for irrigation and as urban water supplies. Conference participants reached a consensus that there is no single, scientifically correct answer to the question of how much water a river needs to remain healthy. They concluded that the environmental flow needs of a particular river should instead be determined through an integrated social and scientific dialogue in which societal goals for the river are first defined. The article provides copies of The Brisbane Declaration and Global Action Agenda (summary findings and a global action agenda that addresses the urgent need to protect rivers globally).

La nueva cuestión habitacional en Argentina: Entre el mito y el deseo, los municipios

This paper presents problems existing in many Argentinean Municipalities, it analyses different cases in the context of the decentralization policies for social housing within the global action agenda. A quick look will be taken to the implications of the State reforms and the presence of the directives of the international agencies in the national policies; from here, we will move to the local level to study the institutional and operative capacity when facing the changes. Finally, a mini - agenda is developed from the Municipality housing management considering the governability needs and the renewed patterns of local development.