IMS to Headline the Appearance of MENA Region Conference in Dubai, Coming Soon, in November

Wanjiru Waweru, Jadetimes Staff

W. Waweru is a Jadetimes News Reporter Covering Entertainment News

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Image Source : Wanjiru Waweru

After 17 years, of throwing a blast on a beautiful beach in Ibiza, Spain, the IMS is revealed to the Mysterious Middle East in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The event electronic music conference was announced on Thursday, September 12, and will make its first debut as the IMS Dubai on November 14 - 15 — Mina Sayahi

The two-day special occasion will include MENA region-based speakers from YouTube, Warner Music Group, Anghami, Believe, and others, along with artists and companies of many festivals such as Morroco’s Oasis Festival,  Dubai’s Soho Garden, and Groove on the Grass, Beirut’s Factory People.

Furthermore, speakers from external the Middle East will consist of organizations and trademarks such as Tomorrowland, Defected Records, CAA, WME, He.She.They, and the Association for Electronic Music

An opening keynote will be provided by Maha ElNabawi, managing editor of “Billboard Arabia.” Other speakers such as Aloki Batra, CEO of The Pacha Group, and Five Hospitality; Janet Ashak, YouTube’s host of music in the region, and others. Artist contributors such as Iranian producer Deep Dish, and Saudi Arabian producer Cosmicat. As at the Ibiza occasion, IMS co-founder and BBC Radio’s Pete Tong will be hosting the IMS Dubai.

Image Source : Wanjiru Waweru

The two-day event will include 13 panel discussions, with topics such as guiding the music industry in the MENA region; a review of the culture tourism concentrated on Ibiza and Dubai; MENA region clients; regional talent consumers; the increase of label and streaming in the region; the underground view in Dubai: a concentrate on the Egyptian market; MENA women in music; and others.

“For almost two decades, International Music Summit has united the global electronic music community annually in Ibiza to explore industry trends, innovations, and the challenges our diverse community faces,” the IMS founders reported in a shared statement on Billboard. “To make a global impact, IMS seeks to be where change is happening, which is why we’ve also hosted three editions of IMS Asia Pacific in Shanghai and one in Singapore, five IMS Engage events in Los Angeles, and three IMS College events in Malta. IMS Dubai will debut in the United Arab Emirates, marking a strategic expansion into the Middle East and North Africa.”

Companies realized that the conference “will not receive government or culture funding or incentives for this initiative”. Digital download platform Beatport required a majority stake in IMS in 2023, with endorsements for the occasion also arriving from AlphaTheta, the founder of Pioneer DJ.

“Our goal is to inspire continued growth, support, and investment while addressing the unique cultural challenges musicians and start-ups face,” the statement proceeds. “Electronic music culture is built on long standing principles of bringing people together from diverse backgrounds on the dancefloor. Music has the power to unify and we all have a part to play in creating safer spaces for all; a principle that IMS and Beatport proudly stand behind.”

The MENA region is emphatically a present buzz increasing promotion for electronic music, and other music genres. The 2024 IFPI Global Report established that the total amount of MENA Revenue increased 14.4% in 2023 after a 26.8% leap in 2022. Based the research of IFPI, streaming revenue considered for 98.4% pf the region’s trademark above the previous year.

Investing in Nature

Chethana Janith, Jadetimes Staff

C. Janith is a Jadetimes news reporter covering science and geopolitics.

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As last year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai made clear, we are headed toward a catastrophic and irreversible breakdown of our planet’s ecosystems. Avoiding this outcome requires concerted action to facilitate and encourage investment in nature-positive projects.

Image Source : (Kunal Shinde/Getty)

GABORONE – From the Drakensberg mountain range in the west to the Indian Ocean in the east, KwaZulu-Natal province is one of South Africa’s most biodiverse provinces. For the last 30 years, however, deteriorating river water quality and increasingly frequent flooding has been costing its cities, businesses, and citizens dearly. But there is hope for KwaZulu-Natal – and for other environmentally distressed regions.

One city in KwaZulu-Natal, eThekwini, showed what an effective response looks like, implementing a comprehensive program for restoring and protecting its rivers using nature-based solutions. Beyond collecting over 100 tons of waste and clearing 98 hectares of invasive species, the initiative has created more than 1,000 jobs since its launch in 2022.

The eThekwini municipality succeeded because it put nature at the center of its climate-action plan. But such success stories remain few and far between. Nature-based investments, including sustainable agriculture, are already proving profitable and scalable, and they have the potential to create 395 million jobs by 2030. Yet, globally, nature-based solutions receive only 15% as much investment as traditional climate solutions, such as clean energy and low-carbon transport. Even harmful subsidies receive 3-4 times more financing than nature-based investment.

As a result, we face a catastrophic and irreversible breakdown of our planet’s ecosystems, a point stressed at last year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai. To avoid this outcome, progress is needed in a few key.

For starters, public and private economic actors must embed nature in their decision-making. Fortunately, a number of tools and enabling frameworks are now available to help businesses and investors identify nature-positive solutions, such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures, the Science Based Targets Network, the Finance Sector Deforestation Action initiative, and the Nature Action 100 initiative.

Central banks and financial regulators can encourage businesses to contribute to nature conservation and restoration by providing nature-related financial risk assessments. Zambia’s central bank, for example, recently integrated biodiversity into its green loan guidelines, so that more financing will be directed toward activities that promote biodiversity conservation and restoration. The framework complements the green bond guidelines that were previously developed by the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission.

Governments should also better coordinate nature-positive initiatives – and climate action more broadly – across ministries and countries, in order to avoid competing agendas. One model, implemented in Rwanda, focuses on measuring and valuing nature. By collecting data on how natural resources are contributing to the economy, the Natural Capital Accounts for Ecosystems ensures that this information is reflected in economic policy and development planning across ministries.

As for international coordination, fora like COPs can help drive progress. At COP26, more than 140 world leaders committed to “halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030,” while supporting the livelihoods of those who depend on forests and delivering sustainable development. At COP27 and COP28, they demonstrated their ongoing commitment to deliver on this goal, with countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ghana announcing innovative investment partnerships.

A third imperative is to strengthen the pipeline – and appeal – of nature-positive projects. Since such projects often carry high up-front costs or involve long payback periods, few meet investors’ criteria. It does not help that financial institutions and capital markets tend to view nature-related investments as having an unfavorable risk-return profile.

Concerted action is needed to support project development, such as through regenerative value chains and high-integrity carbon and biodiversity markets. This would facilitate the aggregation of projects, so that they reach sufficient scale to offer attractive returns to investors.

At the same time, efforts must be made to reduce the cost of capital, such as by improving risk sharing and mitigation. Multilateral development banks must play a key role here, not only by reducing and pooling risk, but also by providing transition signals to the wider system, in order to mobilize private capital. More broadly, the quality and quantity of development finance must be improved, with more funding directed to nature-rich emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs).

For some countries – those currently facing triple climate, biodiversity, and debt crises – sovereign-debt solutions will be needed. The 61 EMDEs that are particularly vulnerable to debt distress today will need $812 billion in debt restructured across all creditor classes. Debt relief would free up funding, while robust new climate-finance targets would ensure that these resources are directed toward nature-positive initiatives.

The final step is to ensure that climate- and nature-related investments, initiatives, and policies are just and inclusive. Currently,only 25% of pledged finance reaches projects on the ground. In Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, smallholder farmers, responsible for 80% of food production, spend as much as $368 billion annually on increasing their resilience to climate change.

Meanwhile, less than 1% of total climate finance goes to the indigenous peoples and local community groups that are the stewards of one-quarter of the planet’s land, representing a carbon-sequestration capacity of 300 billion tons. Giving these groups direct access to finance and respecting their land rights is not only a moral imperative, but also essential to preserve the nature on which we all depend.

In terms of political momentum, financial innovation, and technological capabilities, the stage is set for rapid progress in restoring and preserving nature. World leaders must seize this moment to build a transformative investment agenda that recognizes that, without nature, our planet, let alone our economies, cannot survive. As Kenyan President William Ruto once noted, “When we put nature on our balance sheets, you’ll know Africa is wealthy.”

Unveiling New Shark Species, A Deep Dive into Ocean Discoveries

Kalani Tharanga, JadeTimes Staff

D.W.G. Kalani Tharanga is a Jadetimes news reporter covering Political Blogs.

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Image Source : Stephen Dowling

As scientists delve deeper into the world's oceans, an increasing number of shark species are being discovered, unlocking mysteries that have puzzled marine biologists for decades. A fascinating example began with a simple egg found off the coast of Australia in 1989, leading to the recent discovery of a new species of shark over 30 years later. The process highlights how humanity is still uncovering new facets of the ocean's apex predators, expanding our knowledge of these ancient creatures.

A New Shark Species Discovered After 30 Years of Mystery

In 1989, Australian scientists found a peculiar egg case, known as a "mermaid's purse," off the Rowley Shoals in the East Timor Sea. With its unique ridged design, the egg case raised more questions than answers. Despite this, the case was archived without much investigation. It wasn’t until 2011, when a researcher rediscovered it in a museum, that the quest to identify the species behind the mysterious egg began.

Will White, a senior curator at the Australian National Fish Collection (CSIRO), was part of the team that ultimately cracked the case. They linked the egg to a pregnant shark caught in the same area years earlier. Dissecting the shark revealed an embryo inside an egg case with identical ridges. In 2023, the shark was officially recognized as a new species of demon catshark, now named *Apristurus ovicorrugatus*. This elusive species is believed to live at depths of around 700 meters and lay its eggs on coral, far beneath sunlight's reach.

A Surge in Shark Discoveries and Their Broader Implications

In recent decades, scientists have uncovered a significant surge in new shark species. Since the mid 1980s, the number of known shark species has grown by nearly 40%, from 360 to over 500. New discoveries show no signs of slowing down, with a recent example being a new species of ghost shark identified in September 2024 off the coast of New Zealand. This increase mirrors the golden age of exploration, fueled by both advanced deep sea exploration and diligent work in museum archives.

Sharks such as the demon catshark are not the only recent discoveries. Researchers have also identified new horn shark species in Australian waters and two new species of saw sharks off Africa’s coast. These sharks, with their distinctive rostrums lined with sharp teeth, offer insights into evolutionary traits, such as the six gill slits, a feature that harks back to ancient shark species from millions of years ago.

The discovery of new species is more than a scientific curiosity. These findings can have significant ecological and commercial implications. For example, misidentifying species in commercial fishing, as was the case with the blue skate in the North Atlantic, can devastate populations. With continued exploration and research, many more species may be awaiting discovery in the depths of the world's oceans.