Hello, This week we talk about consent in technology, Covax program and net-zero emissions.
Let’s Talk Consent
Women in technology have been in light due to questions over access to opportunities or recognition or even due to consent?
TikTok recently changed its woman's voice to the voice of a Canadian woman named Bev Standard. For which she hadn't given consent to ByteDance. A similar incident happened with Susan Benett, the voice behind Siri. She has not received acknowledgement from Apple.
The common element in both incidents?- Lack of Consent and Recognition
Departing from Tech-
Indeed surveyed 1,000 women in the tech field, to which they responded-
Work-life balance- 14.4% of women left their workspaces due to this.
While 2.3% left due to inadequate parental leave policies
Field Preference-
As per the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), despite similar performances on a science test, 1 in 5 boys consider a STEM career as 1 in 20 girls.
Increase representation-
Diversity and Innovation: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Technical University of Munich conducted a study to understand the relationship between diversity and management.Companies where 8 out of 20 managers were female generated about 34% of their revenues from innovative products and services.
Do your bit- If a colleague shared a good idea, speak up, name and credit to the first person, and repeat the idea.
(Sources: MIT Technology Review, McKinsey Company, Forbes)
COVAX fell short
The COVAX program is struggling to acquire doses and it stands half a billion short of its goal. A program was created to ensure equitable distribution, fast delivery of vaccines and end of the acute phase of the pandemic.
Why is the program being criticised?
The program accounts for only 4 per cent of more than two billion shots that have been administered worldwide. It had offered to just inoculate 20% of the countries’ population which, as per the experts, is far less to achieve herd immunity. Also, the program missed out on a few initial targets and delayed the process.
Reasons -
Rich countries did not make selfless partners- As per Kate Elder, senior vaccines policy adviser, Britain negotiated that wealthier participants be given a choice to purchase through COVAX, which delayed the export of vaccines.
Complex systems and situations- Gavi (a vaccine alliance- one of the leading partners of COVAX), in a statement to Scientific American, said that the process of manufacturing and overall supply is complex because the vaccine is needed everywhere at a similar point in time.
The impact-
Direct deals with the companies- Poor countries struck their deals directly with companies and other nations. It was a risky strategy as countries like China have donated their vaccines in exchange for political influence.
ineffective vaccines- Such deals could lead to poorer nations primarily getting less effective vaccines.
Expert says-
Will COVAX overcome the challenges and achieve the targets for 2022?
(Sources: NewYorkTimes, The Lancet, Scientific American, Indian Express)
Net Zero-target
Oxfam recently released a report titled “Tightening the Net: Implications of Zero Net Climate Goals for Land and Food Equity”
What is Net Zero?
Net-zero is a state in which a country’s emissions(greenhouse gases) are absorbed & removed from the atmosphere. It is believed that global carbon neutrality by 2050 is the only way to achieve the Paris Agreement target of keeping the temperature below 2°C.
Oxfam’s Report
We think that one of the essential ways to tackle climate change is to plant more trees, but the report by Oxfam offers a different perspective:
Availability of Land- 1.6 billion hectares of land will be required to reach net-zero by 2050.
The report also found that two compensation measures, reforestation and the planting of new forests, are among the worst at putting food security at risk.
Alternatives-
Agroforestry, the practice of combining crops or pastures with growing trees.
Pasture management and soil management.
Experts’ say-
Nafkote Dabithe, the co-author of the report, stated that the governments have not been transparent about the plan to meet their net-zero commitments. But many countries and companies are talking about afforestation and reforestation, and the first question is: where is this land going to come from?”
(Sources: The Guardian, Indian Express, Business Line, The Canadian)
What else is happening?
The Border Roads Organisation constructed the world's highest road in eastern Ladakh at an altitude of 19,300 feet, higher than the Mount Everest base camps.
The social media giant, Twitter Inc. to the Indian court on 6th August, 2021that the company has appointed a Chief Compliance Officer-cum-Grievance Officer and a nodal officer as required under India’s new information technology rules.
If you want to know more about our research- follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn.