from the New Nation A round table discussion on the outcome of the recent G8 meeting stressed the need for repeated talks between rich countries and poor ones. - KaleSpeakers at a roundtable here on Monday underlined the need for holding regular dialogues between leaders of G-8 countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) for cutting poverty and achieving sustainable growth of the global economy.The large and small economies need to interact regularly to find out ways for facing the current challenges of food and energy security, climate change and price hike of oil and other commodities, they said.The roundtable styled 'Outcome of the G8 Summit in Japan' was organised by Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) at its conference room at Gulshan here.BEI president Farooq Sobhan moderated...
from the Guardian Jeffery Sachs calls on the G8 leaders to honor their commitments. - KaleThe G8 summit in Japan earlier this month was a painful demonstration of the pitiful state of global cooperation. The world is in deepening crisis. Food prices are soaring. Oil prices are at historic highs. The leading economies are entering a recession. Climate change negotiations are going around in circles. Aid to the poorest countries is stagnant, despite years of promised increases. And yet in this gathering storm it was hard to find a single real accomplishment by the world's leaders.The world needs global solutions for global problems, but the G8 leaders clearly cannot provide them. Because virtually all of the political leaders that went to the summit are deeply unpopular at home, few offer...
from Business Weekly, Zimbabwe The Group of Eight leaders agreed Tuesday to spend 60 billion dollars to fight disease in Africa over five years and reaffirmed commitments to double aid to the continent.The G8 leaders, issuing a joint statement after talks in Japan, set a timeframe of five years to make good on promises made at least year's summit in Germany to spend 60 billion dollars to fight malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis.Specifically, the leaders set a goal of providing 100 million insecticide-treated nets by the end of 2010 to halt the spread of malaria in developing countries.They also reconfirmed pledges made at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland in 2005 to boost aid to Africa by 25 billion dollars by 2010.African nations had pushed on the spending commitments during talks an...
from IRIN NEW YORK, When the leaders of the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, opened their meeting in Japan on 7 July, World Bank President Robert Zoellick urged them to “seize this opportunity” in the face of a crisis that threatened to push 100 million or more additional people into hunger beyond the 850 million already suffering.He called for “resources, action, and results in real time” in three areas - meeting immediate needs with safety net support; giving small farmers, especially in Africa, access to seeds, fertilisers and other basic inputs; and easing export bans and restrictions that have contributed to higher prices.“The G8 did not rise to the challenge laid down by President Zoellick and others,” Oxfam policy director Gawain Kripke told IRIN....
from the Dispatch Online, South Africa Njongonkulu NdunganeTHE Group of Eight (G8) summit has come and, like other summits, gone. A lot of anticipation preceded this year’s summit against a backdrop of an escalation of the usual problems and new challenges bedevilling the world, especially Africa.Our world communities are currently confronting the worst food crisis in 45 years. Food prices have tripled in three years. The World Bank estimates that 100 million people are falling deeper into poverty as prices for staples like wheat, rice, and corn have risen 83percent. Coming on top of Africa’s old, existing challenges, our continent is disproportionately affected.Escalating global oil prices, which contribute to the dramatic rise in food prices, have also hit the poor...
from Reuters Alert Net By Jeremy LovellLONDON - Leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations who met in Japan this week did the bare minimum for Africa and must not be allowed to backslide from even that, as they have in the past, former UN head Kofi Annan said.On climate change, aid, food prices and trade the G8 had warm words but made scant real progress, reaffirming a 2005 pledge to give the continent $50 billion by 2010 -- of which only $10 billion has so far been given -- and calling for completion of the long-stalled Doha world trade negotiations."We are ... putting pressure on them to honour what they have committed to including coming out with a timetable that would indicate how they are going to implement what they have promised," Annan told Reuters by telephone."What is the point...
“A leading World Bank economist's claims that biofuels are a major cause of soaring world food prices could further undermine support for the alternative fuel worldwide and cause tensions with the White House, which fervently supports the new industry.
The draft report by the World Bank's top agricultural economist, Don Mitchell, estimates that the growing use of food for fuel, combined with low grain stocks, market speculation and export food bans, contributed as much as 75 percent of the 140 percent rise in prices between January 2002 and February 2008.” (Reuters, July 9, 2008)
The draft report by Don Mitchell is yet another volley in the debate over the role biofuels are playing in the food price crisis. The stakes are high because, if his estimates are accepted...
from the San Francisco Chronicle by Michael Abramowitz,The United States and other members of the Group of Eight industrialized countries this week reiterated their commitment to doubling aid to Africa by 2010, seeking to assuage growing concern that they will miss the ambitious targets they set three years ago in Gleneagles, Scotland.They promised to create a global partnership of governments and nonprofits to address the food crisis that threatens to wipe out recent gains on the continent. They instituted new accountability procedures to ensure that wealthy countries fulfill their promises of aid to Africa. And they issued a sharply worded statement questioning the legitimacy of the government of President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.Much of the public focus of the summit was on global...
Once again the G8 has come up tragically short on climate change and a host of urgent problems affecting poor people in developing countries. The good news is that they are at least discussing the right topics. The first Hokkaido G8 document, on the World Economy spills lots of ink on relations between rich and developing economies, including for example, reaffirmation of support for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The next three policy papers -- Environment and Climate Change, Development and Africa, and Global Food Security -- all address topics that are at the heart of rich world-developing world ties (and, not coincidently, major areas of focus for CGD research and policy work). The bad news is that the G8, representing as it does the interests of the...
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from the Washington Post Though Overshadowed by Emissions Talks, Leaders Consider Aid, Food Prices, ZimbabweBy Michael AbramowitzRUSUTSU, Japan -The United States and other members of the Group of Eight this week reiterated their commitment to doubling aid to Africa by 2010, seeking to assuage growing concern that they will miss the ambitious targets they set three years ago in Gleneagles, Scotland.The leaders of the world's richest industrialized nations promised to create a global partnership of governments and nonprofits to address the food crisis that threatens to wipe out recent gains on the continent. They instituted "accountability" procedures to ensure that wealthy countries fulfill their promises of aid to Africa. The leaders also weighed in on another critical African issue by...
from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Non-government organisations have attacked G8 leaders for failing to deliver on aid commitments.In 2005, following a string of benefit concerts around the world, Group of Eight leaders agreed at Gleneagles, Scotland to raise their aid budgets by $US50 billion by 2010.So far only $7 billion, 14 per cent, of that extra aid has been delivered.Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International, is in Japan to lobby the group to make good on group members' commitments.Mr Hobbs told ABC radio's The World Today NGOs were still waiting to see a communique on development and on Africa, which was being worked on overnight."We understand that it is still not agreed and obviously what concerns Oxfam and a lot of the other development organisations is...
from Walta Information Center The Group of Eight leaders agreed Tuesday to spend 60 billion USD to fight disease in Africa over five years and reaffirmed commitments to double aid to the continent, AFP reported.The G8 leaders, issuing a joint statement after talks in Japan, set a timeframe of five years to make good on promises made at last year's summit in Germany to spend 60 billion USD to fight malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis.Specifically, the leaders set a goal of providing 100 million insecticide-treated nets by the end of 2010 to halt the spread of malaria in developing countries.They also reconfirmed pledges made at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005 to boost aid to Africa by 25 billion USD by 2010.Japan had called for this year's summit to focus on health and...
Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Clinton and CEO of the Center for American Progress, have urged rich world leaders assembled for the G8 summit in Japan to take action on the global food crisis, including rapid release of Japanese rice stockpiles imported mostly from the US. In an Op-Ed in today's Boston Globe they write:The food crisis must be a top priority at this week's G8 summit. Agriculture continues to experience more trade distortions than any sector in the global economy. For its part, the developed world -- particularly the United States, the European Union and Japan -- must confront the global impact of our subsidies and tariffs on agricultural products. Barriers to trade between developing countries...
from the Scotsman By ROSS LYDALLWHEN the leaders of the world's richest nations gathered at Gleneagles in 2005, they solemnly pledged to double aid to Africa by 2010 and tackle climate change.Three years on, their mighty ambition and high rhetoric have been replaced by a series of broken promises.Today, as the G8 leaders prepare to issue another communiqué on Africa, the expectation is that the landmark agreements made at the 2005 summit will be watered down. With most G8 countries facing pressures over an economic slowdown in their domestic markets, there is a temptation to divert budget resources away from issues that do not generally excite voters. Overseas aid is top of the list.Only the UK and Japan have come close to maintaining the kind of aid budgets required to meet the...
The Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial polluters [search] the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy have "endorsed halving world emissions of greenhouse gases [ark | moreark] by 2050." Great news, right? Wrong! This is over 40 years away. What will these G8 nations do tomorrow, next week, next year and by 2010 and 2015? I concur the pledge is worse than worthless [ark].
Continued focusing upon these long-term climate goals [search] wastes time and provides little guidance on how climate sustainability will be achieved. They divert attention from immediate major changes in coal use, rainforest logging, energy efficiency and conservation, and ramping up renewable energy that deperately need to start now. The longer we wait, the more costly and...
from All Africa Leadership (Abuja)COLUMN8 July 2008Posted to the web 8 July 2008By Kunle SomorinAbujaIn 2005, when Africa was the thrust of the G8 meeting, nothing much was achieved. Amidst great fanfare, the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) major industrial countries, are meeting again, in northern Japanese island of Hokkaido with one of their principal objectives being the need to address the problem of poverty in Africa. KUNLE SOMORIN contends that this may be a pipe-dream for Africa's renaissance again.He was scathing and unsparing in his condemnation of the motioning without movement of the world's superpowers on the developmental crises plaguing Africa. He has been a development activist in Ghana and many parts of Africa and Asia. Charles Abugre, head of policy and advocacy at...
from AFP via Google TOYAKO, Japan — The Group of Eight leaders agreed Tuesday to spend 60 billion dollars to fight disease in Africa over five years and reaffirmed commitments to double aid to the continent.The G8 leaders, issuing a joint statement after talks in Japan, set a timeframe of five years to make good on promises made at least year's summit in Germany to spend 60 billion dollars to fight malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis.Specifically, the leaders set a goal of providing 100 million insecticide-treated nets by the end of 2010 to halt the spread of malaria in developing countries.They also reconfirmed pledges made at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland in 2005 to boost aid to Africa by 25 billion dollars by 2010.African nations had pushed on the spending commitments during...
from the Press Association via Google Bob Geldof called on world leaders meeting at the G8 summit in Japan to honour their promise to the poor.The anti-poverty campaigner said some good work was coming out of the conference but added that rich nations were falling well short on commitments made three years ago at Gleneagles.His comments came as Gordon Brown prepared for crunch talks with fellow world leaders in a bid to secure support for his plans to boost aid to Africa and curb soaring oil prices.A fresh commitment to meet previous aid pledges and radical plans to end petrol dependency are top of the UK's agenda at the G8 summit - Mr Brown's first as Prime Minister.Intense discussions between the leading industrialised nations will focus on the poor state of the world economy -...
from World Vision U.S. Senate forgoes agreement on AIDS, TB and Malaria Billuntil after G8 SummitG8 must honor commitments to fight global poverty and save children’s lives, agency saysWASHINGTON, July 3, 2008—World Vision commends the U.S. Senate for approving increases for hunger and developmental assistance for fiscal years 2008 and 2009 in the Supplemental Appropriations Act, including $850 million in the first year to address the global food crisis.This increase in international aid comes as U.S. officials prepare to meet next week in Japan with other leaders from the Group of Eight nations, with an agenda including development in Africa and achieving the Millennium Development Goals set at the 2005 summit. World Vision, an international Christian humanitarian organization that...
from Reuters, Africa By Yoko Nishikawa and Jeremy PelofskyTOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - African leaders urged the Group of Eight rich nations on Monday to keep promises to help their continent and pleaded with them to remember that soaring oil and food prices were making their poverty worse.The G8 has been accused by activists of reneging on the promise made at its 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, to double aid by 2010 to $50 billion, half of which would go to Africa. "Some African leaders just wanted to emphasise that while appreciating G8 leaders' commitment to help Africa in past G8 summits, they just wanted to point that they would like to see these commitments fully implemented," Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama said."They also sent their message that they would...
from the Associated Press via You Tube...
from the Washington Post Before Summit in Japan, Bush Urges Monitoring Mechanism for African AssistanceBy Michael AbramowitzWashington Post Staff WriterMonday, July 7, 2008; A08TOYAKO, Japan, July 7 -- Leaders of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations expect to sign off this week on a plan to provide detailed assessments of how well individual countries are fulfilling promises of development assistance to Africa, according to sources familiar with the initiative.The plan is likely to be viewed as a significant breakthrough by nonprofit groups pushing the G-8 to be more accountable about the billions of dollars in well-publicized aid its members have promised Africa for fighting malaria, AIDS and other diseases.Several recent studies suggest that the G-8 countries will miss their...
from the GuardianAs world leaders prepare for the G8 summit in Japan, Richard M Kavuma speaks to people in Katine sub-county, where Guardian and Barclays are helping to fund a three-year integrated development project. Locals hope the G8 leaders will choose to breathe life into their agriculture and an ailing healthcare system. Read what the academics say or find out what the NGOs sayBy Richard M Kavuma Berito Alutu, in his 60s, farmer, Ojwinyi villageI wish the richer countries could send us money to buy drugs. There are no drugs in the health centre, yet I have a terrible chest pain. We also have a big problem with mosquitoes, which bring malaria, the most common disease here. I wish they would help us control malaria, maybe with more mosquito nets?We also have a problem with...
On Monday, one week in advance of the climate-themed G8 Summit in Japan, the Indian government released its first ever national climate change action plan. In line with previous statements by India and other developing countries, no specific emission targets or timetables were presented. That fact -- which is no surprise to anyone following the issue -- nonetheless seems to be garnering most of the press attention. Far more important and interesting were Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's comments in an associated speech. Said Singh:We will pool all our scientific, technical and managerial talents, with financial sources, to develop solar energy as a source of abundant energy to power our economy and to transform the lives of our people.
Hear! Hear! This is a forceful and...
from Reuters Africa By Katrina MansonFREETOWN - When African leaders meet their rich G8 counterparts next week the inevitable smiles will mask bitter disappointment over broken promises on both sides.G8 nations are falling short of grand pledges they made at a summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005 to double aid to Africa by 2010. Western leaders are increasingly frustrated by Africa's lack of progress in tackling crises such as Darfur and Zimbabwe. "I want to hold the G8 countries to their promise. When you sign a contract, you absolutely must stick to it," said Angelique Kidjo, a singer from Benin who has joined Irish rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof in campaigning against world poverty.G8 aid to Africa will fall $40 billion short of the Gleneagles pledge under current plans, according...
from Reuters UK Leaders from the world's major industrialised nations meet from Monday in Hokkaido in northern Japan, for a summit at which African development, rising food and oil prices, and climate change will be high on the agenda.Leaders at the July 7-9 summit will discuss a goal of halving global emissions by 2050 after agreeing last year in Germany to seriously consider the target.Here are some details on the previous five G8 summits.* FRANCE - EVIAN - JUNE 2003:-- The G8 nations focused on the need to press ahead with structural reforms and greater flexibility in rich economies despite resistance, highlighted by public sector strikes, in host country France.-- They sought to draw a line under bitter transatlantic differences over the Iraq conflict, which half the G8 opposed,...
from Maktoob Business Leaders from the Group of Eight industrial powers will agree to establish a task force at their summit next month to tackle the world food crisis, a report said on Monday.The group will aim to address the immediate problem of food shortages in poorer countries as well as address longer-term challenges such as boosting food production, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, citing unnamed government sources.The working group is also expected to discuss removal of export restrictions and directing global food stockpiles to those most in need, the daily said.The report came after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he would press G8 leaders at their July summit in Japan to tackle the world food crisis, as well as climate change and the flagging fight against global poverty.The G8...
from the AFP via Google UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Thursday he would press Group of Eight (G8) leaders at their summit in Japan next month to tackle the world food crisis, climate change and the flagging fight against global poverty.On the eve of his departure on a two-week, three-nation Asian tour, the secretary general said the July 7-9 summit in the northern Japanese resort town of Toyako must face the three inter-related crises which demand "our immediate action."He said that before departing, he would write to each of the G8 leaders to lay out his concerns about the global food crisis, the need "to act now" on climate change if a deal to cut greenhouse gases is to be reached by the end of next year, and the emergency of development."If ever there were a time...
A few weeks ago, our CGD Note, Unwanted Rice in Japan Can Solve the Rice Crisis -- If Washington and Tokyo Act, created quite a stir. Policy makers and the public could not believe that Japan was feeding rice to animals at a time when millions of poor people were going hungry because food prices were unaffordable. Sadly, Tokyo's Ministry of Agriculture still does not get it. Today's press quotes the head of the ministry's livestock department as saying that Japan plans to increase its subsidized sales of rice to its livestock sector by 50% to more than 600,0000 tons. At a time when millions of people are facing starvation, Japan is choosing to turn its rice stocks into cattle feed.
There is still time to act, especially in the run up to the Japan-hosted G8 Summit next month....
The House Financial Services Committee will consider new legislation this week that would contribute $400 million in FY2009 to a multilateral Clean Technology Fund (CTF), administered by the World Bank, to promote low-carbon energy production in developing countries. Scheduled for mark-up on Tuesday, H.R. 6315 was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI) last Thursday with bipartisan co-sponsorship that includes Financial Services chairman Barney Frank (D-MA).
The bill is the product of a hearing held earlier this month that considered President Bush's pledge to contribute $2 billion to the fund over three years. CGD senior fellow David Wheeler was invited to testify at the June 5th hearing and lauded the Bush Administration for...