The island nation of Fiji puts those costs even higher. “We should be looking at the order of $750 billion per year, of which 10% should be earmarked for small island developing states,” Satyendra Prasad, Fiji’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told DW.

More than 300 civil society organizations such as Climate Action Network, 350.org and Pan African Climate Justice Alliance sent an open letter to COP26 President Alok Sharma and world leaders, urging them to commit to delivering finance on loss and damage “on the basis of equity, historical responsibility and global solidarity, applying the polluter pays principle.”

Those in developing countries want firm agreement on how the financing will be sourced and channeled to countries suffering loss or damage.

“We are all calling for these global leaders not just to pledge, but to put the money on the table,” said Amath Pathe Sene, lead climate and environment specialist for West and Central Africa from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). “I think how the way the world reacted to the global pandemic, and we acted quickly with billions of dollars, we should do the same for climate change.”

Activists have also warned that most climate finance currently comes in the form of loans.

“What they are often offering is going to create more debt in Global South countries,” Kenyan Fridays for Future activist Eric Damien Njuguna told DW. “It doesn’t recognize the historical role of Global North countries in causing the climate crisis. So, in the end, we are paying back for something we didn’t cause in the first place.”

Breakthrough talks at COP26?

There are many ideas on the table to help finance the sums of money needed to pay for loss and damage. Antigua and Barbuda’s Environment Minister Joseph suggests putting a levy on oil. “We have 90 million barrels of oil traded in the world per day. Even if you put a levy of $1 on a barrel of oil that could raise enough money to at least begin to address the issue of loss and damage,” he said.

Small island developing nations are also exploring other avenues, should negotiations fail. Joseph said Antigua and Barbuda has joined with the South Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu to look into the possibility of legal action.

“It is somewhat unfortunate it has to come to that, but you have a situation where enough has not been done. And then the small island developing states now have to look at the options that are available to them,” he said.

“We are being responsible global citizens. We are cleaning up our environment. And at the same time, we have been victims of the polluters.”

While he says he has seen some positive signs and is cautiously optimistic, climate activists like Eric Damien Njuguna are skeptical. “This is the 26th COP — one too many. And all of them have been a failure. And to be honest, it wouldn’t be a surprise for this COP26 to be a failure, either.”

However, Fiji’s Ambassador to the UN, Prasad, says many countries are very committed to recognizing that the small island developing states are facing extreme climate crisis.

“Many countries have said to us in bilateral discussions and in larger meetings that they want to help us address that,” he said. “So let us see — we have a week to go.”

DW

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MSR’ Media’s Philippe Martinez has extended a deal with St Kitts & Nevis, to shoot multiple feature films there over a three-year period.

Under the deal, struck with the premier of Nevis Mark Brantley, the Nevisian government provides access to locations on the island and accommodation support for cast. In return, MSR is augmenting the film industry on the island, including job creation and roles for local actors.

Christmas In The Caribbean starring Elizabeth Hurley is currently in production under the deal, while previous titles include comedies A Week In Paradise and One Year Off, and thriller Assailant.

MSR also produces from its UK base in York, making festive features such as Father Christmas Is Back, sold to Netflix; and My Dad’s Christmas Date, sold to Amazon Prime Video.

Martinez, talking to Screen Daily, answered a few questions about his operation’s plans for Nevis and the Federation.

How do you select the projects you make at MSR Media?

We have a department that receives scripts from writers. What’s key is to make screenplays that are what the platforms want. For independent producers, the business is coming down to Netflix, Amazon and some smaller platforms. Producers or sales agents don’t like to say this because they are afraid – they like to maintain the illusion that things are going well. The traditional formula of selling country by country just doesn’t work anymore; the distributors that we used to work with are facing an economical challenge, with Covid and the fact that Netflix and Amazon are now the main players.

 

What is the structure at MSR Media?

We have 50 people working permanently in the company – five in our US office on distribution, and 20 to 30 in the UK. The rest are on St Kitts and Nevis, where we’ve established a production company and shoot four movies a year.

Are UK crew moving there permanently?

Some go back to see families or for other reasons; we have very little turnover. When you’re a crew members and you know that you’re going to do four movies a year with a company, it’s safety in these uncertain times. I operate like a theatre company – I like to work with the same actors. It’s a good feeling to work with actors you know you can rely on.

What work are you doing to grow the Nevisian industry?

The island does not have a studio facility yet so we use the beautiful locations. We brought film equipment from the UK, and we opened an acting academy with 20 students, aged from 20 to 60+. To fly one person thousands of miles away for half a day of shooting doesn’t make sense so every time we have small speaking parts in these films, we use them [the local actors].

Are markets still important to the film industry?

It’s a cornerstone in the mentality of sales agents to say, “We have to prepare [for example] AFM.” But as a producer, I’m preparing my sales on a daily basis by talking to the platforms, and to the US distributors about what we want to develop for the next movie. For the past 30 years we used to go to markets and have one-to-one discussions with distributors. Now it’s all about zoom calls. But it’s just not the same. I don’t share the excitement about digital markets. Having a client from Italy on a zoom call? We do that all year long anyway.

Screen Daily

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CHICAGO/NEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Big U.S. harvests, near-perfect weather for planting in Brazil and signs of slowing purchases by top buyer China are bolstering supplies of two of the top globally traded commodities: soy and corn.

The rising stocks indicate that prices for those key crops, as well as for other staples such as sugar and coffee, may have peaked after the surge sparked by the onset of the pandemic, farmers, brokers and analysts said.

Lower crop prices would be good news for consumers after global food prices soared to the highest level in a decade, according to the United Nations food agency. read more

Dwindling supplies and strong global demand for crops over the past 18 months drove food inflation and spurred fears of shortages.

Cheaper soy and corn would lower the cost of feeding livestock used to produce meat, which has been out of reach for many people during the COVID-19 pandemic. But falling prices could threaten farmers’ profits, especially after seed and fertilizer companies raised prices on crop inputs.

Since topping out at near-decade highs in May, Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures have fallen 27% while corn futures fell 24% as near-perfect growing conditions across broad swaths of the United States led to a bountiful harvest.

But with the northwestern United States and Canada still reeling from a historic drought and dry weather potentially continuing there due to the La Niña climate phenomenon, prices of oats, wheat and canola are poised to remain high, meaning food inflation is far from over. Wheat futures recently surged to a nine-year top.

The market for soybeans is under the most pressure, as rising supplies and concerns about a cooling of Chinese demand are pushing prices lower.

After finishing the 2021 harvest of what he called a bigger-than-average soybean crop on the 3,600-acre farm he operates in Woodhull, Illinois, Drew DeSutter booked some sales on soybeans he will deliver to grain dealers in 2022 in case the market declines by the time that crop, which he has not even planted yet, matures.

“I do not think it is a bad idea for farmers to set some prices on next year’s crop,” DeSutter said.

The U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) raised its outlook for world supplies of soybeans every month since it gave initial projections for the current marketing year in May. If the current forecast of 104.57 million tonnes is realized, that would be the second-biggest world soybean stocks record.

China, the top global buyer of soybeans, has slowed purchases in recent months due to poor margins crushing soy into meal and oil to feed livestock. Analysts say shipments to China in 2021 might be less than 100 million tonnes due to a collapse in hog sector profitability and a sharp rise in the use of wheat for animal feed. read more

Even prices of vegetable oils including palm oil, which surged due in part to a labor shortage in Malaysia, have begun to show weakness, with palm oil posting losses in three of the last four weeks. But soy and canola oil have been in high demand for biodiesel, as companies transition to greener fuel. read more

While poor weather, has cast doubt on the state of China’s corn crop, the USDA and private analysts expect China to import less of the grain than it did last year. Global corn supplies were seen rising 4.1% in the 2021/22 crop year, according to USDA data.

China was set to import 20 million tonnes of corn in the 2021/22 year, down from 29 million tonnes in 2020/21, an analyst from a Chinese government institute said in late September.

“Given the current balance of supply and demand, I believe that the higher prices are behind us,” said Camilo Motter, a grain broker in Brazil, the top global producer of soybeans, sugar and coffee.

IDEAL PLANTING WEATHER

Argentina, projected to be the world’s third-largest corn supplier and fourth-largest supplier of soy this year, is expected to produce a record corn crop and a larger soybean crop than last year, according to the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange.

After a rough growing season, Brazil has had ideal weather for planting its next crop – long stretches of dry days for field work followed by ample rains that helped shepherd crops through the early stages of development.

In Brazil’s coffee belt, the largest amount of rain for the month of October since 1983 fell, after farmers struggled with the worst drought in nearly a century earlier in 2021. Although some damage was already done to plants by frosts and drought, market players believe the ample moisture could give next year’s crop a large boost.

Montesanto Tavares Group, a large coffee producer and processor in Brazil, expects a near-record crop in 2022.

“The abundant rains from the last 20 days brought breath to farmers,” Montesanto Tavares Group said.

Benchmark sugar prices on the ICE exchange touched a 4-1/2-year peak on Oct. 11 amid signs of renewed demand from China in a period when Brazil production data confirmed a dismal crop in the world’s top grower after a harsh drought.

But the long-term supply outlook seemed to improve since, analysts say, due to the weather in Brazil and good prospects for the upcoming harvest in India and Thailand, the other two large global players. Market speculators have begun to slash their long sugar position, an indication that their year-long bets on rising prices might be ending.

“With the market range-bound and upside potential deemed to be limited, speculators have probably decided to take their profits and deploy their funds elsewhere,” a European sugar trader said.

WHEAT, CANOLA REMAIN TIGHT

In the northern U.S. Plains, farmer Doyle Lentz managed to squeak through this year’s drought with a surprisingly big soybean crop but faced shortfalls in canola and spring wheat production due to the dry soils. For next year, he has booked some sales of soybeans but was holding off on canola and wheat contracts due to uncertainties about prices of fertilizer and other inputs.

Lentz said he would not be able to turn a profit on canola at current prices and would need a further rally before he committed any acres to that crop.

“We are going to have to spend a lot more time with the calculators and when we get to some point where we can make a profit we will have to lock that in,” said Lentz, who has a 6,000 acre farm in Rolla, North Dakota.

In the Canadian Prairies, the severe drought that shrank production of grains and canola is likely to extend into 2022, said Colin Laroque, professor of soil science at University of Saskatchewan.

The La Niña weather phenomenon usually means cold, dry weather for the Prairies, at least into February, he said. It would take a deluge of rain in spring to counter the drought and restore soil moisture, but a soaking on that scale would make it difficult to plant crops, he added.

“Generally, multi-year drought means a multi-year recharge,” Laroque said. “A quick solution is never a good solution.”

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TIJUANA, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Emboldened by news that the United States and Mexico will reopen shared land-border crossings, hundreds of migrants have arrived at Mexican border cities like Tijuana, hoping the reset will make it easier to cross and seek U.S. asylum.

Starting on Monday, the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200-km) border will be open again to non-essential travel after a 20-month closure aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19. Both countries have succeeded in lowering new infections and vaccinating border communities.

Another drive to enter the United States could increase pressure on Washington to tighten the border after a jump in migrantsthis year from troubled areas of Central America and the Caribbean tested President Joe Biden.

“I’m going to try. We want to get across the border. I can’t be in Mexico anymore. There’s a lot of violence here,” said Andrea Morales, a Guatemalan who has been living in a makeshift camp for a month next to Tijuana’s El Chaparral border crossing.

“Four days ago, the government took away our lights and fenced us in like animals. I put my faith in God so I can cross and give my kids a better life,” Morales said as she stood nursing her baby amid dozens of tents.

Local authorities angered migrants last week when they threw away tents and other belongings that had been left in the camp they have occupied since February.

‘MISINFORMATION’

Migrant advocates say many people have been misled about what the border restart means for their asylum prospects.

“There’s a lot of misinformation. We have explained to them that the reopening of the border is for people who have papers, a visa, to cross and it’s not a reopening for people to cross and ask for asylum and humanitarian aid,” said Jose Garcia, head of migrant shelter Movimiento Juventud 2000 in Tijuana.

“They haven’t listened to us and they don’t want to wait,” he added, saying the number of migrants in the shelter had risen by a third since the reopening was announced on Oct. 15.

Mexicans are also arriving.

Many migrants in Tijuana said they were fleeing violence in Mexican states such as Michoacan and Guerrero, and aimed to cross on Monday to ask for asylum.

In 2020, 9,700 Mexicans were displaced by violence, a jump of over a third from the previous year, according to the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.

The pandemic, along with a surge in U.S. asylum requests, has meant thousands of migrants spend months in Mexico waiting for a response to their petitions or just a chance to file them.

“I never left with the intention of staying in Mexico. It’s like Honduras,” said Augusto Martinez, a Honduran who arrived in Tijuana three weeks ago with his wife and five children. “We’re definitely going to try and cross.”

Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by Dave Graham and Peter Cooney

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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