Ownership

Africa's vast underground water resources are under pressure from climate change - how to manage them

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, September 3, 2023

This groundwater provides almost 50% of all global domestic use and 43% of all the water used for agriculture.

Key Points: 
  • This groundwater provides almost 50% of all global domestic use and 43% of all the water used for agriculture.
  • These facts and figures are in a recent World Bank report which unpacks issues facing groundwater in times of climate change.
  • It’s vital that African countries address these as pressure increases on the continent’s water resources, through growing populations, development and changing weather patterns.

Key issues

    • South Africa has used laws and policies to transfer the ownership of resources to the government.
    • But this has led to issues around red tape and licensing permits, which determine how water is allocated.
    • The success of permit systems depends on a thorough understanding of the resources, property owners’ compliance with granted user rights, and the enforcement of this regulation.
    • These historical pieces of infrastructure have been abandoned in recent times, but could solve many of the water shortage issues in the semi-arid to arid areas of Africa.
    • Human activities, such as over-pumping, could adversely affect how they function and lead to a loss of biodiversity.
    • The conservation of these water bodies is of the utmost importance for the preservation of water resources and livelihoods.

Managing resources

    • Coupled with good practical solutions, such as managing pump rates, this will sustain groundwater resources for many years to come.
    • This is unfortunate as the ability to measure allows better management of groundwater resources.

Rooftop renewables risk making the rich richer, as latecomers will struggle to access the grid

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, August 31, 2023

Many people are now becoming “energy citizens” by installing rooftop solar panels and other small-scale renewable energy projects in their properties.

Key Points: 
  • Many people are now becoming “energy citizens” by installing rooftop solar panels and other small-scale renewable energy projects in their properties.
  • Added renewable energy brings down the cost of energy, and by replacing fossil fuels, cuts planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions.
  • But there is concern that as more people install solar panels and other renewable projects, local electricity grids may become congested.
  • This appears to mirror the situation at present in electricity grids like that of California, Spain and Germany, where early-comers are blocking access for latecomers.

A game of musical chairs

    • The situation could be compared to a game of musical chairs.
    • The first problem is the number of chairs: the electricity grid was not designed for every house to produce lots of renewable energy.
    • There are some ways to address this problem technically – to make more chairs available.

Justice implications

    • As the electricity sector is transformed by renewable energy, there are new justice implications worth exploring.
    • The direct benefits of owning a clean energy installation are not for you.
    • Our research suggests that it is possible to adjust this policy to make grid availability a shared resource.

Factor in equity

    • The transition to low-carbon energy is now inevitable – the question is not if, but how, the transition is conducted.
    • Policies for domestic wind and solar should factor in concerns about equity, meaning we could allow all electricity customers to benefit financially from clean energy, and not just from having cleaner air to breathe.
    • Barry Hayes receives funding Science Foundation Ireland via MaREI, the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine.

How to get federal disaster aid: FEMA is running out of money, but these strategies can help survivors of Hurricane Idalia and the Maui fires get aid faster

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, August 31, 2023

Residents in communities hit by Hurricane Idalia, the Maui fires or other recent disasters have a long, tough journey ahead.

Key Points: 
  • Residents in communities hit by Hurricane Idalia, the Maui fires or other recent disasters have a long, tough journey ahead.
  • I am a law professor who focuses on disaster recovery and preparedness and has created several legal clinics to assist survivors.

Declaring a disaster

    • The level of damage will determine whether the president approves a major disaster declaration or simply an emergency declaration.
    • That information is then used to determine the extent of the disaster, its impact on infrastructure and the type of aid needed in the request for a federal disaster declaration.
    • Once the federal government issues an emergency or major disaster declaration, individuals can apply for disaster recovery funding.

Documenting the damage

    • Amid the grief and the rush to find temporary housing and rebuild lives, it can be hard to focus on meticulously documenting what was lost and dealing with insurance.
    • As soon as possible, disaster survivors should take photos of the damage and record every affected area of their property.
    • That includes capturing details of damage to structures, personal belongings, vehicles and any medical equipment.
    • FEMA recently amended its policy to also allow affidavits to prove ownership of homes passed down through generations, known as heirship property.

Finding disaster aid

    • People generally have four options for aid: insurance coverage, FEMA benefits, community or nonprofit funding, and private funding, including loans.
    • Disaster survivors must apply for their relevant insurance payouts before FEMA will pay benefits.
    • The agency provides up to $41,000 for housing assistance after emergencies or disaster declarations.
    • To cover the costs that go beyond FEMA’s limits, survivors may need to secure private loans or disaster loans, such as Small Business Administration disaster loans, to bridge the gap.

Community partnerships are crucial

    • Amid the complexities of disaster recovery, the importance of community planning and collaboration cannot be overstated.
    • These disaster recovery centers can be the cornerstone for long-term recovery groups that help a community both recover and build resilience.
    • Five years after Hurricane Maria, community groups were still on the ground in Puerto Rico providing aid and resources to the local community.

Mercedes-Benz's legal win over car dealers could transform the way new cars are sold in Australia

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, August 31, 2023

Federal Court judge Jonathan Beach had been expected to deliver his decision at the beginning of the year.

Key Points: 
  • Federal Court judge Jonathan Beach had been expected to deliver his decision at the beginning of the year.
  • It was finally handed down yesterday, after a nine-month delay that highlights the significance of the case.
  • It dismisses all the dealers’ claims against Mercedes-Benz, describing the case as “forensically complex although legally straightforward”.

Why dealers took Mercedes-Benz to court

    • The basis for the dealers’ compensation claim was that Mercedes-Benz allegedly bullied them into signing “agency agreements” that upended this model.
    • The new agreements meant Mercedes-Benz took control of the sales process.
    • It retained ownership of the vehicles and set the sales prices, paying dealers a fixed commission on sales.
    • With dealer showroom traffic already declining, dealers contended that reducing their interaction with customers would dramatically affect their profitability.

Claims dismissed

    • He dismissed all claims against Mercedes-Benz.
    • His judgement upholds Mercedes-Benz’s right to cancel its existing franchisee contracts and replace them with agency agreements.
    • He unambiguously stated that “further consideration needs to be given to the terms of the franchising code and possible modification”.

What does this mean for customers?

    • Fixed-price sales do not appear to blunt Tesla’s momentum, with the Tesla Model Y zooming up the charts to become Australia’s third-best-selling car.
    • Honda, however, in March 2023 reported a 72% decline, recording its lowest new car sales in its history in Australia.
    • All parties need to reset and refine their roles and responsibilities in a rapidly evolving consumer landscape.

For minorities, biased AI algorithms can damage almost every part of life

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, August 24, 2023

It can also help to suppress sections of society, for instance vulnerable women and minorities.

Key Points: 
  • It can also help to suppress sections of society, for instance vulnerable women and minorities.
  • This is the argument of my new book on the relationship between various forms of racism and sexism and artificial intelligence (AI).
  • For example, algorithms could learn that most people in a particular job role are male and therefore favour men in job applications.
  • Software used in the criminal justice system has predicted that black offenders would have higher recidivism rates than they did.

Machines don’t lie?

    • AI is making matters worse, as it is sold to us as essentially unbiased.
    • We are told that machines don’t lie.
    • The opaque nature of AI technology poses serious challenges to legal systems which have been built around individual or human accountability.

Ethical and legal vacuum

    • The ethical and legal vacuum thus created is readily exploited by criminals, as this brave new AI world is largely anarchic.
    • It is time to counter the ethical, political and social costs with a concerted social movement in support of legislation.
    • Only in this way can a good use of AI be codified in local, national and global institutions.

Why an EU document mentioning the 'Islas Malvinas/Falkland Islands' is a big deal

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 22, 2023

It is not a binding document but the decision to refer to the islands by their Spanish as well as their British name is deeply significant.

Key Points: 
  • It is not a binding document but the decision to refer to the islands by their Spanish as well as their British name is deeply significant.
  • It happened despite reported efforts by UK foreign secretary James Cleverly to have the islands kept out of the summit declaration altogether and has left the UK angry.
  • One EU official was quoted as saying: “The UK is not part of the EU.
  • If they were in the EU perhaps they would have pushed back against it.”

How the archipelago got its names

    • With the advent of the European age of discovery in the 1500s, territorial naming – or renaming – became central to colonial practices.
    • It was a means, as British writer James Hamilton-Paterson has put it, of taking ideological control of territory.
    • From the 16th century on, various names for the archipelago – the Sebalds, New Islands, Hawkins Maiden Land –- were used interchangeably, each relating to different European expeditions.
    • Other names –- Falkland Islands; les Îles Malouines –- only later gained traction via their presence on maps, highlighting the strategic importance of cartography.

Beyond geography

    • In his landmark 1993 book, Culture and Imperialism, literary scholar Edward Said writes:
      Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography.
    • That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.
    • Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography.
    • That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.

Beginning of the end: how Elon Musk’s removal of the block function on X could trigger its hellish demise

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 22, 2023

On Saturday, X (formerly Twitter) chairman Elon Musk tweeted he would be removing the microblogging platform’s block function.

Key Points: 
  • On Saturday, X (formerly Twitter) chairman Elon Musk tweeted he would be removing the microblogging platform’s block function.
  • Why does Musk want to block the block function?

Why block the ‘block’?

    • Simply, the block function on X prevents one user from interacting with another.
    • With the click of a button, the blocker can deny another user the ability to read their tweets or reshare their content.
    • He has also condemned campaigns among users to block subscribers paying for a Twitter Blue subscription (which grants them perks such as a blue tick beside their name and the ability to edit posts).
    • The likelihood of skirmishes is reduced when “players” can block one another.

What would the consequences be?

    • Blocking provides some very tangible benefits, helping users (especially high-profile ones) do anything from avoiding harassment to simply cleaning up spam in their replies.
    • According to the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, X “fails to act on 99% of hate posted by Twitter Blue subscribers”.
    • Musk has disputed the findings and filed a lawsuit against the group (an action that sits uneasily alongside his free-speech absolutism).

What happens beyond the block?

    • Further, both the Apple Store and Google Play have guidelines stipulating that platforms hosting user-generated content must allow the blocking of other users.
    • Removing this capacity might lead to the app stores dropping X, which could spell economic death for the platform.
    • Or he may argue a stronger form of mute fulfils the same requirements as the block function.

Prosecraft has infuriated authors by using their books without consent – but what does copyright law say?

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Prosecraft requires an algorithm to crawl through millions of words of text to produce an analysis of the language.

Key Points: 
  • Prosecraft requires an algorithm to crawl through millions of words of text to produce an analysis of the language.
  • It drew on “more than 25,000 books” to allow authors to compare their text to writers they admire.
  • Not by faux data analysis.” Smith believed Prosecraft could help uncover the intricacies of the writing techniques of famous authors that their otherwise dense prose might obscure.
  • Read more:
    Explainer: what is 'fair dealing' and when can you copy without permission?

Shadow libraries: the ‘Achilles heel’ of AI

    • None of this would be possible without a “shadow library”: the Achilles’ heel of AI technologies.
    • In copyright terms, the copying of a book so it can be stored in a shadow library is an act of infringement.
    • Yet, thousands of authors suing the creator of a shadow library is a different question altogether.

Copyright depends on human actions

    • However, if the AI technology they have developed then trawls through that shadow library to produce many different forms of language analysis, this is not likely to be an infringement of copyright: almost all the relevant laws contemplate human actions.
    • The opening line of the infringement provisions of the US Copyright Act reads, “Anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner …” (Emphasis added.)
    • Further references within section 501 of the US Copyright Act also make the assumption of human action and human agency quite plain.
    • Fair use is an open-ended exception where the use of a copyright work is considered against four factors.

‘Transformative use’ and Australian law

    • Australia amended its laws after the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, to mirror some of the principles of US copyright law.
    • In amending its laws, Australia legislated that parody or satire could form the basis of a fair dealing exception.
    • Australia has either missed a trick or dodged a bullet by failing to include transformative use as a fair dealing exception.

The sale of publisher Simon & Schuster is good news for staff and authors, but the long-term implications are uncertain

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, August 9, 2023

This must be a huge relief for staff and authors.

Key Points: 
  • This must be a huge relief for staff and authors.
  • For Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Simon & Schuster is an attractive investment.
  • Founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster, the company is the fourth largest publisher in the United States.
  • It has published countless commercially successful and critically acclaimed authors, including Annie Proulx, Stephen King and Bob Woodward.
  • Between 2018 and July 2023, the firm owned RBMedia, the largest audiobook publisher in the world.

What does it mean for staff?

    • A merger with another publisher would have inevitably resulted in staff layoffs and redundancies.
    • The new buyer has expressed interest in supporting further growth of Simon & Schuster, domestically and internationally, as well as maintaining editorial independence.
    • KKR has successfully used this strategy since 2011 to improve engagement within more than 30 companies in its portfolio.

What does the future hold?

    • The deal secures Simon & Schuster’s future as a separate business entity.
    • This is good news not only for its workforce, but its authors.
    • It marks a welcome pause in the wave of mergers and acquisitions that started in the 1960s, transforming the landscape of trade publishing.
    • Industry consolidation has been associated with decreased competition in the marketplace, and diminished diversity and choice in the publishing landscape.
    • scale down workforce, liquidate assets, and reduce investment), and then resell at a profit.

US preterm birth and maternal mortality rates are alarmingly high, outpacing those in all other high-income countries

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, August 3, 2023

The report reflects a shameful reality in which maternal deaths have either increased or plateaued worldwide between 2016 and 2020.

Key Points: 
  • The report reflects a shameful reality in which maternal deaths have either increased or plateaued worldwide between 2016 and 2020.
  • On top of that, of every 10 babies born, one is preterm – and every 40 seconds, one of those babies dies.
  • The WHO has designated preterm birth an “urgent public health issue” in recognition of the threat it poses to global health.
  • We are maternal fetal medicine experts and scholars of women’s health who focus on treatments and programs to help women have better maternal health, especially those that reduce preterm birth.

Dire state of maternal health care

    • Bowie’s story drives home the devastating state of maternal health in the U.S. Maternal mortality is a sad and unexpected ending to the often beautiful journey of pregnancy and childbirth.
    • Unfortunately, the maternal and infant health crises are worsening in the U.S., and this association is far from being an unfortunate coincidence.
    • There is an important link between infant health and maternal health, as they both rely on the accessibility and quality of health care.
    • Worse yet, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that about 84% of these maternal deaths are preventable.

Tragic rates of infant mortality and preterm birth

    • The U.S infant mortality rate was 5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births, in contrast to the 1.6 deaths per 1,000 live births in Norway, the country with the lowest infant mortality rate.
    • While preterm births lead to rising infant mortality rates, even those who survive can face health problems such as breathing difficulties, problems with feeding, significant developmental delay and more throughout their lives.
    • Preterm birth also presents additional risks for the mother, as women who deliver preterm are at higher risk for cardiovascular complications later in life.
    • Thus, preterm birth takes a significant toll on families and their communities, with serious ramifications in medical, social, psychological and financial contexts.

Maternal care during pregnancy is key

    • Maternal care appointments and screenings are essential to prevent prenatal complications and a women’s increased risk for developing long-term complications such as cardiovascular disease.
    • For that reason, patients should secure prenatal care as early as possible in the pregnancy and continue to regularly have prenatal care appointments.
    • It looks no different from the early signs of a typical labor, except that it occurs before 37 weeks of pregnancy.

Preterm birth prevention

    • The more that pregnant women take ownership of their health and ask their doctors to perform a simple cervical length screening during their pregnancy, the earlier preterm birth can be detected and prevented and the more lives will be saved.
    • Evidence has shown that patients with a short cervix face a greater risk of the cervix’s opening too early in pregnancy, resulting in preterm birth and other adverse outcomes.
    • Luckily, there are treatments available, such as vaginal progesterone, which can prevent preterm birth in women found by ultrasound to have a short cervix.
    • This treatment can reduce the risk of preterm birth by more than 40%.