Oxfam says that leadership must now be shown at key UN meetings on poverty in September and on climate in December.
Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs said "never was more urgent action needed by the G8 than this week in Japan. Accelerated climate change, runaway food prices and growing poverty are depriving millions of people of their livelihoods and, in many cases, their very lives.
"Several governments championed steps to tackle the crucial issues sitting on the G8 agenda, but in the end this summit did not deliver the breakthroughs that are so urgently needed. The consensus reached was shallow at best, especially on climate.
"The search for deeper agreement among world powers does not end here. It will shape the agenda during Italy's presidency. However millions of people living in poverty can ill afford another year without bold and united leadership."
- On climate change, the G8 endorsed among other things a commitment to halve global carbon emissions by 2050 - but with no agreed baseline year or mid-term targets - and a $6bn pledge to the World Bank for climate investment funds that will come out of existing aid budgets.
Antonio Hill, Oxfam's climate change policy spokesperson, said: "At this rate, by 2050 the world will be cooked and the G8 leaders will be long forgotten. The G8's endorsement of a tepid '50 by 50' climate goal leaves us with a 50/50 chance of a climate meltdown. We need 80% cuts of 1990 levels by 2050 and emissions to peak and start falling by 2015.
"The G8's announcement on 2050 is just another stalling tactic that does nothing to lower the risk faced by millions of poor people right now. Taking climate change funds out of aid budgets - with overall aid going down - is patently unfair. Every aid dollar diverted to climate adaptation is one dollar less for medicines and schoolbooks."
- On the food crisis, the G8 promised to reverse the decline in aid to agriculture - but without any numbers - and to support the UN's plans to tackle the crisis. It also pledged to ensure that biofuels would be produced in a way that would be compatible with food security and to accelerate the development of second-generation biofuels.
Oxfam Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs said, "The G8 leaders do not seem to get it. The facts are clear. Rich country biofuels are a major cause of the global food crisis at this moment, yet the leaders barely mentioned them and blithely continue to burn food in their cars. It's like discussing the Titanic but failing to talk about the iceberg."
- On Africa and development aid, the G8 reaffirmed previous promised to provide $50bn in new assistance, half to Africa, by 2010 - although it offered no details on who would do what to reverse the decline in aid since 2006. It also repeated the promise it made 12 months ago to spend $60bn for health - however, the timing was not specified and the clarity of purpose remained vague.
Oxfam International chief policy adviser at the G8, Max Lawson, said: "The G8 leaders' clumsy attempt to backtrack on their aid promises has backfired. With two years to go to the 2010 deadline, G8 leaders now have to deliver the $50 billion in new assistance they pledged at Gleneagles. The world takes these promises seriously even if the G8 leaders do not."
Charles Abani, Southern Africa Regional Director for Oxfam International, said: "The poor of Africa will find little solace in the G8's evasion tactics. Only when they come through with the $25 billion for Africa will we have cause to celebrate. The money is a pittance for the G8, but for poor Africans it could mean a future with lifesaving medicines and the chance to learn to read and write."
On current trends, Oxfam said the G8 will fall $30 billion short of the 2010 promise, which could cost as many as five million lives, most of them among the 30,000 children who die each day from causes related to extreme poverty.
"The G8 failed to rise to the challenge of a world in crisis, a world that is demanding serious action. We must see renewed leadership in September at the UN Emergency Summit on Poverty and in December in Poland at the vital UN climate talks," Hobbs said.
ENDS/
For more information: Dan Timms, 01865 472 193, 07810 181 514
Oxfam welcomed the vote to reduce targets as a victory for campaigners, but said MEPs should have gone further in the light of evidence of the inflationary impact of biofuels on food prices, and their at best indeterminate impact on climate change.
Douwe Buzeman, Oxfam's EU Policy Adviser, said: "Politicians are waking up to the harsh reality of unchecked biofuel expansion, which will not stop climate change and is threatening the ability of millions of people to feed their families. This vote represents a change in political opinion and politicians should now follow through and end targets altogether."
/ Ends
For more information contact Amy Barry on 01865 472313
Antonio Hill, spokesperson for Oxfam International, said:
"At this rate, by 2050 the world will be cooked and the G8 leaders will be long forgotten. The G8's endorsement of a tepid '50 by 50' climate goal leaves us with a 50/50 chance of a climate meltdown.
"Rather than a breakthrough, the G8's announcement on 2050 is another stalling tactic that does nothing to lower the risk faced by millions of poor people right now.
"Taking their pledges for Climate Investment Funds out of existing aid committments at a time when overall aid is going down, not up, is patently unfair. Every dollar diverted to climate adaptation is one dollar less for essential medicines, schoolbooks and other crucial development tools."
Highlights:
- Aim of 50% global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with no agreed baseline year
- $6 billion pledge to Climate Investment Funds housed at the World Bank will come out of aid budgets
- No agreement on when emissions will peak and begin to decline
- No mid-term target on emissions reductions, just an undefined goal
- Acknowledges that developed and developing economies have differentiated responsibilities
Reality check
- To avoid catastrophic consequences, global emissions must peak by 2015 and fall by at least 80% of 1990 levels by 2050.
- Rich countries must reduce emissions by at least 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020.
- Adaptation needs for developing countries is estimated to be $50-$86 billion per year.
Contact: Louis Belanger, Oxfam press officer on +81 80 2610 5564, or Dan Timms on 01865 472 193.
]]>
Stephen Doughty, Head of EU and UK Government Relations at Oxfam said: "The UK government appears to have had a significant rethink. In the light of mounting evidence that biofuels production could have a negative impact on people and the environment, we welcome the caution expressed on targets and the call for a slow down in growth.
"However, given the clear link between biofuels and rising food prices, and evidence of higher emissions from biofuels production than previously thought, the report should have gone further and called for the complete repeal of existing targets.
"It is obvious that biofuels are not a magic bullet for climate change, and may actually make things worse. In light of this, neither the UK nor the EU should have compulsory targets."
Oxfam expressed concern that the Gallagher review had not recommended scrapping targets due to pressure from industry.
Doughty: "Oxfam is not saying that all biofuels are bad, but we want safeguards put before targets not the other way round. It would be a travesty if pressure from industry was allowed to get in the way of doing the right thing for climate change and poverty."
The Environment Committee of the European Parliament will vote today on a proposal for all EU countries to use at least 10% biofuels in transport by 2020. The Gallagher review claims that this target is "unlikely to be met sustainably" and Oxfam is urging MEPs to reject the proposal in the vote this evening.
/ Ends
For more information or interviews, call Amy Barry on 01865 472498.
Oxfam report: Another Inconvenient Truth
Notes to editors
The Gallagher review is due out at 3.30pm this afternoon. Oxfam has seen an embargoed copy.
In summary: the report acknowledges significant problems with biofuels. It links biofuels production to food price rises of up to 76% (lower for most commodities). It estimates poverty has gone up by 11m in India, and 350 000 in Bangladesh - these country estimates imply that Oxfam's overall of 30m people worldwide being pushed into poverty by biofuels production is accurate (see Oxfam report link above).
The Gallagher report recommends a slowdown in biofuels growth and a shift of production onto idle agricultural land (i.e. land that has already been cleared but is not being used to produce food) or marginal land.
It says existing UK target of 2.5% should be kept, but the target of 5% by 2010 should be pushed back to 2013/4. This would mean amending the existing RTFO legislation. It says the proposed EU target is too high. Should be more like 4%. Possibly up to 5-8% in longer term.
- UK should rethink biofuels mandate and MEPs should vote against EU target
- Proposed WTO free trade deal not the answer
The rich world's response to the global food crisis has been inadequate and at times hypocritical, said Oxfam today on the eve of the G8 summit and ahead of a critical vote in Europe on biofuels.
New research suggesting that the rush for biofuels has pushed food prices up by 75%, adds to already strong evidence that biofuels are doing more harm than good. Also due today is the delayed Gallagher enquiry into the impact of biofuels. Oxfam is urging the UK government to scrap its target for biofuels and MEPs to reject the proposed EU target of 10% of energy from biofuels by 2020.
Phil Bloomer said: "Rich world politicians are failing to acknowledge the impact of their own unfair policies. There is so much evidence about the negative impacts of biofuels that setting mandatory targets seems unconscionable. And yet that's what the UK has done, thereby sending a signal to the markets and the private sector that demand is here to stay, and keeping prices high. The EU must not follow suit."
The World Bank estimates that increases in prices of wheat, rice and maize cost developing countries $324bn last year alone - the equivalent of three years global aid spending. Food inflation has wiped out 10% of the GDP of Senegal, Haiti and Sierra Leone, and around 5% of GDP in Vanuatu, Mozambique and Eritrea, according to latest World Bank analysis.
"Food inflation might cause pain in rich countries - but it is shattering entire economies and people's lives in developing countries," said Bloomer. "At the G8 this week world leaders need to do much more to show they are ready to tackle this food crisis in the long term. They must reiterate their promises to increase aid - needed now more than ever - and make the necessary reforms including increasing investment in agriculture in poor countries, targeting women and small farmers."
Also, the European Commission are proposing to offer €1 billion of unspent agriculture funds to help farmers from poorest countries boost their food production. Oxfam welcomed the urgently needed money, but said the Commission needed to go further and seize the opportunity to reform.
"Rich countries' farm subsidies have systematically undermined production in poor countries. While prices are high they should take the chance to end the unfair subsidies once and for all. Aid should not distract from the urgent need for fundamental root and branch reform in the EU and US," said Bloomer.
The World Trade Organization is due to meet later this month but Oxfam challenged the assertion that the proposed global free trade deal would alleviate the situation and said that rapid liberalisation, without sufficient flexibility for poor countries, would further expose developing countries to shocks.
"While we do not want to see a retreat into protectionism, the current situation should not be an excuse to rush through liberalisation either. The latest proposals at the WTO fall far short of what is needed and represent a step backwards in terms of development. Any agreement based on what is currently on the table will not help solve the food crisis or reduce poverty," said Bloomer.
/ Ends
For more information, contact Amy Barry on 07980 664397 or Dan Timms on 07810 181514
Migrant domestic workers have the legal status of workers in the UK - and are entitled to rights such as the minimum wage, time off, etc. Yet, of more than 300 workers registered with Kalayaan in 2006, 43% of workers reported not being given their own bed, 41% were not given regular meals, 70% were given no time off, 61% were not allowed out of the house without their employer's permission. In addition, 10% reported sexual abuse, 26% physical abuse and 72% psychological abuse at the hands of their employers. Many workers were paid as little as 50p an hour, were made to work up to 16 hours a day, and were on constant call to their employers.
Last week, the Home Office dropped proposed visa changes which would tie domestic workers to one employer - a move welcomed by Oxfam and Kalayaan who had warned that the changes would encourage 'bonded labour' in the UK. But despite this positive development, migrant domestic workers remain extremely vulnerable.
Kate Wareing, Oxfam UK Poverty Director said: "Our report reveals that migrant domestic workers come from some of the poorest countries in the world to become some of the most vulnerable and exploited people in the UK. It is vital they retain they right to change employer beyond the two-year period that the government has just promised. And we urge the government to take further steps to protect domestic workers by increasing awareness about both their vulnerability and their legal rights among the police, health service workers, immigration and embassy officials, and other agencies who work with them."
Kate Roberts of Kalayaan said: "Our research details the horrific levels of abuse of migrant domestic workers in private households in the UK, despite their legal rights. 'Jenny' was beaten by her employer over three years and eventually had to run away with the help of a neighbour. 'Mary' is now blind in one eye since her employer threw hot tea at her. The stories of these workers are unfortunately not unusual. In addition to the government's welcomed commitment to retain the domestic worker visa, additional action must be taken against abusive employers who break the law - and more support provided for domestic workers."
/ Ends
For more information, including case studies, copies of the report, photographs, and interviews with migrant workers and Oxfam and Kalayaan spokespeople, contact:
Louie Fooks, Press Officer for UK poverty, Oxfam: 01865 473280, or 07789 946562/0796 860 6902.
Notes for editors:
Case studies
Jenny, a domestic worker from West Africa, was beaten by her employer in the UK for nearly three years. She was paid a pittance, forced to be on constant call to her employer, and was hardly allowed out of the house. Fearing for her safety, she eventually managed to escape from her employer's house. Jenny says: "We should not be treated like slaves."
Mary came to London three years ago. Her employer threw hot tea at her several times. She is now blind in her right eye. When her employer's husband attempted to rape her she ran away, even though she had no job to go to. Mary says: "For all those years I did not have the strength to leave and was thinking it was better to die than to endure this."
1. The New Bonded Labour research is based on a sample of more than 300 workers registered with Kalayaan in 2006.
2. The report will be launched at a parliamentary event in Westminster on 2 July 2008, sponsored by Chris McCafferty MP.
3. Kalayaan is based in Holland Park, London and is the only dedicated UK organisation providing advice and support to migrant domestic workers.
4. Proposed changes to the immigration rules for MDWs were communicated to Kalayaan by Home Office officials in March 2006. Kalayaan were told that migrant domestic workers would no longer be recognised as workers, but would enter the country on a business visitor visa. In order to avoid falling into irregular immigration status, domestic workers would have to continue to work for the same employer in the UK.
5. Oxfam, Kalayaan and partners in the trade unions and other agencies have been advising against the abolition of the domestic workers visa. The Home Office announced that it would retain the Domestic Worker visa for at least a further two years and then review it as appropriate, in the Government Response to the Consultation on Visitors published on 25 June 2008.
In today's report "Another Inconvenient Truth", Oxfam calculates that rich country biofuel policies have dragged more than 30 million people into poverty, based on evidence that biofuels have already contributed up to 30% to the global rise in food prices.
Oxfam believes the UK government, which introduced 2.5% of biofuel in all transport fuel last April, should reverse its policy instead of doubling the amount by 2010. The UK government should also press the EU to follow suit, by cancelling plans for a 10% biofuel target by 2020. Oxfam hopes that the conclusions from the 'Gallagher Review'*, due out tomorrow, will add extra pressure on the Government to act.
"It would be shameful if the government decided to plough on ahead regardless of mounting evidence exposing the dangerous short-comings of biofuels," said report author Robert Bailey. "Their biofuels policy is out of sync with its overall ambition to tackle climate change and promote development around the world.
"Rich counties' biofuel policies- including the UK's - is actually helping to accelerate climate change and deepen poverty and hunger. Rich countries' demands for more biofuels in their transport fuels are causing spiralling food inflation."
He continued: "If the fuel value for a crop is more than its food value, then it will be sold for fuel instead. Thanks to generous subsidies and tax breaks, that is exactly what is happening. Grain reserves are now at an all-time low."
Rich countries, including the UK, are supporting their own biofuel production through rapidly increasing targets, subsidies, tax breaks and tariffs. From being hailed as a green initiative, biofuels have been used to protect farming interests, with support ultimately creating a new 'tax on food'.
"Rich countries spent up to $15 billion last year supporting their own biofuels while blocking cheaper Brazilian ethanol, which is far less damaging for global food security and the environment. That's the same amount of money that Oxfam says is needed to help poor people cope with the food crisis," said Bailey.
"This is a regressive tax that hits poor people the hardest because their food bills represent a greater share of their income," he said.
The biofuels being grown today are not an effective answer to climate change. Instead, biofuels are taking over agricultural land and forcing farming to expand into lands that are important carbon sinks, like forests and wetlands. This triggers the release of carbon from soil and vegetation that will take decades to repay.
Oxfam estimates that by 2020, as a result of the EU's 10% biofuel target, carbon emissions from changing land use for palm oil could be almost 70 times greater than the annual savings the EU hopes to achieve from biofuels by then.
The report shows that biofuels will not address rich countries' need for fuel security, as has been argued by supporters of biofuels. "Even if the entire world's supply of grains and sugars were converted into ethanol tomorrow - in the process giving us all even less to eat - we would only be able to replace 40% of our petrol and diesel consumption," Bailey said. "Rich country governments should not use biofuels as an excuse to avoid urgent decisions about how to reduce their unfettered demand for petrol and diesel."
In developing countries, Oxfam says that biofuels could provide a sustainable energy alternative for poor people in marginalized areas - but that the potential economic, social and environmental costs can be severe, and countries should proceed with caution. In Mali for example, bioenergy projects provide clean renewable energy sources to poor women and men in rural areas. But, as the main plank of a policy to substitute transport fuel by rich nations, biofuels are failing.
Bailey said: "Biofuels were meant to be an alternative to oil - a secure source of new transport energy. But rich countries have designed their policies too much for the benefit of domestic interest groups. They are making climate change worse, not better, they are stealing crops and land away from food production, and they are destroying millions of livelihoods in the process."
ENDS//
Notes to Editor:
"Another Inconvenient Truth" makes the following key recommendations:
Rich countries should:
• Introduce a freeze on implementing new biofuel mandates
• Urgently revise existing biofuel mandates that deepen poverty and accelerate climate change
• Dismantle subsidies and tax exemptions for biofuels
• Reduce import tariffs on biofuels
Developing countries should:
• Proceed with extreme caution, planning for the long-term, avoiding ambitious targets and analysing the economic, environmental and social impacts of biofuels
Companies and investors should:
• Ensure no biofuel project takes place without the free, prior and informed consent of local communities
• Promote access to energy in remote areas
*The Gallagher Review was commissioned by Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly in February to look at the social standards and environmental impacts of biofuels. The results are scheduled to be announced on June 26.
For further information and to arrange images or interviews, contact Lucy Brinicombe, 01865 472192 / +44 (0) 7786110054 / lbrinicombe@oxfam.org.uk
Spiralling food and fuel prices have signalled the start of a new "age of scarcity" which could drag millions of people into poverty, according to a new book released by Oxfam today. Urgent action must be taken to tackle the huge inequalities that prevent poor people from having access to increasingly scarce resources such as food, fuel and water.
"We have entered a new age of scarcity," said Duncan Green, author of the book and Head of Research for Oxfam GB. "Unless we act quickly, the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' will grow uncontrollably, exacerbating existing inequalities and condemning millions more people to poverty."
Published today, From Poverty to Power is the latest of Oxfam's once-a-decade, flagship studies on the state of global poverty. Challenging the view that progress in developing countries is predominantly driven by changes in rich country behaviour, it instead seeks to demonstrate that change happens from the bottom-up, driven by effective states that are held to account by active citizens.
The book argues that predominant economic thinking is not equal to new global realities, and that a "New Deal" on power, the economy and global institutions is urgently needed. At the heart of this approach is empowerment - of poor people in communities and of poor countries in global institutions.
"For too long experts have been crossing their fingers and hoping that growth alone will be sufficient to draw people out of poverty," said Green. "The fact that inequality prevents growth from being effective in tackling poverty has been largely ignored. Now it is clearer than ever that the only way to end the gross inequalities that have condemned more than a billion people to linger in poverty is through a massive redistribution of power, assets and opportunities."
The book goes on to argue that success in tackling poverty is critically dependent on how effectively we respond to the growing impact of climate change and rapidly diminishing resources. "Dirty, carbon-hungry growth is no longer an option," said Green "Unless we can find a route to low-carbon growth then we face either catastrophic climate change or serious economic decline. Either way, the poorest will be hit first and hit hardest."
In his foreword to the book, Nobel prize-winning Economist Amartya Sen writes: "In telling us what can be achieved by ordinary people through organised action, this book generates hope even as it enhances understanding of what is involved in the removal of poverty".
Barbara Stocking, Chief Executive of Oxfam GB, said: "From Poverty to Power sets out a clear manifesto for tackling poverty in the 21st century. It represents a stark warning, but also a clear vision of what we have to do and how we have to do it. The challenge is clear. As the book states: Fail, and future generations will not forgive us. Succeed, and they will wonder why we left it so long."
ENDS
For more information contact Dan Timms (01865 472 193 or 07810 181 514), or Tricia O'Rourke (01865 472 498 or 07989 965 359)
]]>
Oxfam is celebrating its fifteenth year at Glastonbury with ten tonnes of festival fashion, 1,800 stewards and a campaign to gauge the issues that really matter to festival-goers.
Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis said:
"We're delighted to be celebrating fifteen years of working with Oxfam at the festival. In that time, Oxfam has helped to change the lives of millions of people around the world, and everyone at Glastonbury is very proud to have been a part of that."
Since 1993 Oxfam has raised £2.5 million and signed up the support of more than 300,000 people at Glastonbury to help its lifesaving work around the world. This has been done through campaigning, trading and stewarding at the festival.
Highlights include:
- £2 million in total raised through stewarding over the past 15 years - the festival makes a donation to Oxfam in return for the provision of stewards each year. £400,000 was made through stewarding in 2007, with a record number of stewards (1,700) on site;
- £500,000 raised through stalls on site since 2002, selling festival fashion in the form of everything from wellies to wedding dresses;
- Well over 300,000 people have added their voices to Oxfam campaigns against poverty through petitions at the festival since 1994;
- In 2003, Oxfam Make Trade Fair supporter Chris Martin presented 30,000 Glastonbury 'Big Noise' petition singers to the head of the World Trade Organisation at their summit in Mexico;
- More than 70,000 new supporters signed up to Oxfam's 'I Count' campaign in 2007, to stop climate chaos.
Last year, Oxfam raised a record £57,000 in on-site sales across its four stalls and this year aims to do even better. For the first time at the festival Oxfam will sell vintage clothing and high street designer clothes from Prada to Paul Frank, as well as our usual range of festival fashion.
This will include:
- 1,000 pairs of wellies and 2,000 waterproof jackets in case those Glastonbury downpours arrive again;
- 200 wedding dresses, 200 morning suits and 200 dinner jackets;
- 5,000 fun hats and two tonnes of good quality fancy dress.
This is set to be a record year for Oxfam's stewarding operation - 1,800 Oxfam stewards will be working on-site, more than at any previous festival. Stewarding is an enormously popular way of volunteering, attracting people of all ages. This year stewards aged from 18 through to an impressive 74 years old are helping to ensure the smooth running of the festival, each working three eight-hour shifts in return for a free ticket and a private camping area.
Campaigning at the festival since 1994 has been very successful too. Tens of thousands of supporters have made a real difference to issues as wide-ranging as aid, education, fair trade, conflict and arms control. Throughout 2008 Oxfam is asking festival-goers to tell them what issues 'get their knickers in a twist': from climate change to global injustice, Oxfam will be gauging the mood of the festival-going public across the summer, starting at Worthy Farm.
Oxfam Head of Events and Community Fundraising, Gareth Simpson said:
"From the thousands of people enjoying fantastic music come rain or shine through to the stone circle and the pear cider, Glastonbury's a unique event. What makes it even more special to us is that thousands of people every year get behind what we're doing to help make the world a fairer place."
Notes to Editors
To find out more about Oxfam at the festivals, visit: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/festivals.
To arrange interviews or for further information please contact:
Stuart Fowkes, Oxfam press office (and on-site media officer)
Tel: 07818 406038 Email: sfowkes@oxfam.org.uk
"I am delighted. I know people always say this, but for me this is recognition of Oxfam's work. One person can only do so much: the skills, enthusiasms and energy of others achieves so much more. I want to share this with everyone who works with and supports Oxfam, especially in the difficult and dangerous trouble spots of the world.
One particular situation readily comes to mind: in Sudan, our staff face daily danger in their efforts to change the lives of those suffering in Darfur and Chad. Sadly some have lost their lives - this award is their honour as much as it is mine."
Barbara Stocking joined Oxfam GB as Director in May 2001. During the last 7 years, Barbara has led Oxfam's response to humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, for the Tsunami and the Pakistan Earthquake. She has strengthened Oxfam's campaigning and pushed for Oxfam's scale up of development work on Livelihoods and HIV/Aids. Most recently Oxfam has started campaigning on climate change because of its impact on poor people.
Barbara is married and has two sons. She was awarded a CBE in the 2000 Millennium Honours List for her previous work at the NHS.
Oxfam is a humanitarian, development and campaigning agency, whose purpose is to work with others to overcome poverty and suffering.
For more information please call Katie Abbotts, Oxfam press officer, 01865 472334, kabbotts@oxfam.org.uk, 07810 504380.
"No-one expected miracles but ending two weeks of talks with so little progress will be difficult to explain to poor people who are already being hit by climate change. This was an under-whelming contribution to tackling what the UN describes as the biggest challenge facing humanity," said Oxfam's climate change adviser Antonio Hill.
The meeting heard that accumulated climate change funding since the UN Climate Convention (UNFCCC) was signed, amounts to around $3.6 billion in total. By comparison, the UNFCCC estimates that up to $67 billion per year will be needed for adaptation by 2030, and Oxfam estimates that it will cost at least $50 billion a year - more if global emissions do not peak by 2015 and drop steeply thereafter.
Hill said: "Rich countries showed almost zero leadership in Bonn. The EU sat in silence as developing and other countries called for a new approach to deliver the money and technology required to help poor countries adapt to climate change and ensure a low-carbon, zero-poverty future.
"There is a big gap between developing countries, who want cuts and funding shared equitably between rich and poor nations, and rich countries such as the US, Canada and Japan, who continue to downplay the scale of need.
"Climate change is the background spectre to the current global crises in oil prices, energy access, food security and the biofuels fiasco. The poor are being hit first and hardest but no one is untouched. The next UNFCCC meeting in Accra in August must show more progress than this. The EU especially must both respond to proposals already tabled and propose new ones or risk losing its vital leadership role."
Meanwhile, last week's announcement by Japan of 60-80% cuts by 2050 remains clouded in uncertainty. Japan's emissions are approximately 15% above its 1990 levels and growing, while under the Kyoto Protocol it pledged to reduce to 6% below 1990. Unless it starts reducing its overall emissions now, and achieves cuts of at least 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020, Prime Minister Fukuda's vision for 2050 will be dashed within a year.
For press enquiries or more information, please contact: Contact: Antonio Hill in Bonn: +49 (0) 176 6800 1710, or Matt Grainger in Oxford: +44 (0) 7730 680 837.
As Chancellor Darling prepared to meet fellow G8 finance ministers in Osaka today, Oxfam launched its report: Credibility Crunch: Food, Poverty and Climate Change - An agenda for rich country leaders. The report says that the ministers' most urgent priority is to fill a US $30bn hole in overseas aid. G8 leaders promised at Gleneagles in 2005 to increase aid levels by US $50bn annually by 2010 but, according to Oxfam's research, the aid gap that has now opened will cost five million lives*.
Oxfam's report author Max Lawson said: "We are now half-way towards the Millennium Development Goals deadline and, instead of coasting to victory, the world is staring at defeat. After years of broken promises, rich country governments cannot hide from previous aid commitments if they are to meet the goals and keep their credibility intact."
"These are the same ministers who spent more than a trillion dollars in six months to bail out their own banks, but they cannot find a fraction of that to save millions of lives. With an economic recession looming, they must not make the poor pay the price by reneging on their aid promises."
The UK has a crucial leadership role to play in helping to ensure that G8 promises on aid are not broken beyond repair, and that the current global crises do not undermine the progress that has already been made.
"Chancellor Darling must take this opportunity to drive the G8 towards an ambitious agenda for tackling poverty," said Lawson. "The UK remains the only G8 nation that has set out a clear timetable for meeting its aid commitments, despite aid falling in 2007, and must push others to do the same. We are also calling on the government to set an example to other rich nations by dropping its domestic targets on the use of biofuels and upping its planned reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions from 60 % by 2050 to 80 %."
The report calls for the G8 to respond to the current food crisis with urgent financial assistance, ensuring that all the money - including the US $6bn pledged at the Rome summit last week - comes on top of existing aid commitments. It states that the demand for biofuels is responsible for 30 % of the global food price rises and points to the devastating impact that this is having on millions of people.
On climate change, Oxfam highlights that much of the money pledged to help poor communities cope with the effects of changing weather patterns is simply being taken from existing aid budgets, or instead being made in loans**.
"Poor countries face a triple injustice," said Lawson. "Not only do they have to pay the price for rich countries' pollution, but the little money available to help them is being diverted from already promised and much needed aid. The crowning injustice is that they are being asked to repay this money with interest."
ENDS
For more information, a copy of the report, or to arrange an interview, contact:
Lucy Brinicombe: 01865 472 192 or 07786 110 054
Dan Timms: 01865 472 193 or 07810 181 514
Tricia O'Rourke: 01865 472 498 or 07989 965 359
Notes to Editors:
Oxfam proposes a six-point plan for the G8 agenda which includes:
Stop burning food and start supporting poor farmers. Agree to freeze all new biofuels targets and urgently rethink existing targets. At the same time, dismantle subsidies and tax exemptions that provide incentives for the diversion of agricultural production. Oxfam estimates US $14.5bn is needed to scale up immediate assistance to at least 290 million people threatened by rising food prices, and a long-term plan to invest heavily into developing country agriculture systems. It is unclear whether the US $6bn pledged at the Rome Summit is new money or comes from existing aid commitments, and what is the time frame for its delivery.
Japan, France and Germany must scale up aid spending to 0.7% of GNI. In 2005, rich countries promised to increase aid by US $50bn annually by 2010. Since then, they have done very little to meet this goal, failing to reach it by a staggering US $30bn. Rich donors must improve the quality of their aid and agree to monitor this under the UN.
Funds must be forthcoming to provide high-quality public services - health, education, water, sanitation - in developing countries. G8 countries should support plans for hiring 4.25 million health workers who are vital in the battle against poverty.
Urgent action is needed now to cut emissions so that we can minimize the impacts of climate change. The G8 must lead other rich countries by example by cutting carbon emissions year-on-year by 2015 at the latest***. Funds for poor countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change must be made available on top of aid and in grant form. Money must be made available through the UN fund so that it can be spent where it is needed most.
* Using the latest figures from the World Health Organization and UNAIDS, Oxfam has calculated that the US $30bn shortfall - confirmed by the OECD in April 2008 - could provide vital healthcare for children, mothers and those suffering from HIV and AIDS, saving five million lives in 2010 alone and reversing the spread of HIV and AIDS.
** Oxfam estimates that US $50bn a year is needed - on top of aid commitments - in adaptation funding so that poor countries - who are already feeling the impacts the hardest - can better cope.
*** Oxfam believes that, in order to stay as far below to two degrees Celsuis as possible, rich countries must cut emmissions by at least 25 to 40% from 1990 levels by 2020 and globally emissions must fall to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.
Credibility Crunch: Food, Poverty and Climate Change - An agenda for rich country leaders - full report
]]>
Oxfam has received more than 200 calls from potential shoppers wanting to be a part of the sale - which included second hand bags by the likes of Mulberry, Osprey, and Coccinelle. One blogger claimed to have three laptops open simultaneously in an attempt to access the sale and Oxfam had to fend off an electronic attack from a shopper who was using an online "robot" to hit the site more than 1000 times per second.
The online shop is now up and running - but is still struggling to cope with demand for the designer bags, and other handbags from smart high-street names such as Radley, Karen Millen and Fiorelli. There are also vintage pieces and cut price high street bags.
Oxfam's Deputy Trading Director Barney Tallack said:
'We knew handbags would be popular, but this has been extraordinary. We have been completely overwhelmed by the incredible demand from shoppers, and we would like to apologise to everyone who experienced problems trying to access the site. I want to thank everyone for their fantastic support - and assure people that our next bonanza will be able to handle this massive influx of shoppers.'
The handbag sale is part of Oxfam's Online Shop -the first ever online-high street charity shop. This virtual shop is currently listing 75,000 items and is the place to go for vintage and unique items including clothes, books, music, household goods and collector's items. The store also offers Fair Trade goods - including jewellery, gifts, chocolate and coffee - and Oxfam's alternative gift range Oxfam Unwrapped.
ends
Notes to Editors:
The Oxfam Online Shop can be found at www.oxfam.org.uk/shop:
A letter issued on 4 June by the Zimbabwean Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, addressed to "all private voluntary organisations / non-governmental organisations" has instructed all NGOs "to suspend all field operation until further notice".
In addition to food shortages now, it is estimated there will be a further 1.4 million tonne shortfall in maize this year. Food insecurity is expected to be a serious problem by August.
Charles Abani, Oxfam's director in Southern Africa, said: "We are deeply concerned at this development. A lot of people are completely reliant on food aid to keep them alive. They don't have anything else to eat. Access has been restricted in recent months and we are very worried about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the communities we work with.
"We are also concerned that all NGOs - including local Zimbabwean organisations - have been suspended which brings a halt to a wide range of services to needy people."
Oxfam hopes this directive to suspend operations is temporary and calls on authorities to allow us to continue our ongoing work and assessments.
Oxfam is a non-partisan organisation that provides humanitarian assistance to people based on need and need alone. Our only interest is in ensuring that those people most vulnerable get the assistance they are entitled to.
/Ends
Notes to editors:
Oxfam has a large network of partner organisations prepared to respond to the food emergency, and we have the capacity to rapidly scale up our programmes to directly assist people in need. However, in recent months Oxfam's ability to provide humanitarian relief in rural areas has been extremely limited. International NGOs (Oxfam included) have been unable to conduct planned food needs assessments, leading to poor preparation for the impending hungry season.
For more information contact:
Caroline Hooper-Box
Tel: +27 12 342 4837
Mobile: +27 82 468 1905
chooperbox@oxfam.org.uk
"Recognising you have a problem is the first step toward solving it. Leaders of the richest countries have acknowledged the importance of aid to agriculture after 25 years of decline. They have pledged money to provide immediate aid to those that need it. But a crisis like this, with so many contributing factors, needs a wide-ranging plan to resolve it and rich countries can't continue to ignore their own trade and agriculture policies," said Barbara Stocking, CEO, Oxfam GB.
The final communiqué acknowledges that biofuels offer both 'opportunities and challenges' and recommends more research into their impact. However, in the meantime, biofuels will continue to have a devastating impact on millions of poor people and recent estimates suggest that demand for biofuels is responsible for 30 percent of the global food price rise. Oxfam is calling on the EU and US to end their compulsory biofuel targets.
The communiqué also suggests that concluding the current WTO agreement will solve the crisis. Oxfam disagrees and argues instead that current WTO proposals do not give developing countries the flexibility they need to respond to volatile markets and short term rises and falls in prices.
"Concluding a trade deal as it is currently framed will hurt poor farmers and consumers, not help them. Trade rules must protect poor people in times of both high prices and low. Developing countries need the ability to feed their people and support the poorest, most marginalised farmers to gain from current high prices. The current crisis illustrates starkly that what we need is not business as usual but deep reform of the international trading system," said Stocking.
The UN Task Force set up to deal with the food crisis must listen to representatives from the developing world's 400 million smallholder farmers. These farms are not only important in feeding their nations but also providing economic development and must be part of any solution to the crisis.
US$6 billion has been pledged this week but this is less than half of the $14.5bn that Oxfam estimates is needed to provide immediate assistance to at least 290 million people threatened by rising food prices until the end of 2008. It is unclear whether the US$6bn is new money or comes from existing aid commitments, and what is the time frame for its delivery.
"The baton of responsibility now passes to the G8 and its finance ministers meeting in Japan next week. As the world's most powerful countries they must provide more money to deal with the immediate impact of the current crisis but also tackle some of the contributing causes by ending compulsory biofuels targets and providing more long term aid for to agriculture," said Stocking.
Ends
For more information and interviews contact: Amy Barry or Tricia O'Rourke on +44 (0) 1865 472498
Note to editors
1. The money pledged this week includes:
- France €1 billion (US$1.5bn)
- Spain €500 million (US$800m)
- Islamic Development Bank US$1.5bn
- World Bank US$1.2bn
- African Development Bank US$1bn
2. The 290m people estimated to be at risk are the poorest people in the 53 most affected countries - the 49 Least Developed Countries, and Tajikistan, Zimbabwe, Occupied Palestinian Territories and Kenya. The figure of $14.5bn is based on these people requiring an average of $50 per capita in 2008. The $50 required is an estimate based on Oxfam's experience and studies around the world of what people need to so they have enough to eat.