?For the millions of poor people already living with the disastrous consequences of climate change, this G8 is a significant opportunity not to be missed,? said Antonio Hill, Oxfam spokesperson. ?We don?t need more haggling or finger-pointing. We need urgent action to ensure emissions peak in the next few years. Without it, decades of progress in the fight against poverty will be undone.?
?Any emissions reductions target for 2050 is a pipe dream without action now,? Hill added. ?Canada, the US, and Japan are holding the world hostage on 2020 targets ? and poor people are paying the price.? China, India and all other developing countries already agreed in Bali to do their fair share. Major developing countries and the four European G8 members agree 2020 targets are a benchmark for success at this G8.
Oxfam acknowledged the new Climate Investment Funds could help poor countries adapt to changes that are now inevitable, but said it is a drop in the bucket and will be taken away from aid money to fund health and education. Ethiopia?s immediate climate adaptation needs alone will cost US$800 million, the agency said. Besides the new funds, rich countries have pledged only US$170 million to the UN?s adaptation fund for all of the 49 Least Developed Countries.
Oxfam decried the imbalance between the G8?s new clean technology fund (US$4 or $5 billion) and its adaptation fund (US$500 million). ?The G8?s priorities are out of whack,? said Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International. ?Billions for their own companies to fund technology, and peanuts for the poorest to adapt. They talk of a promise to reduce emissions by a date when none of them will be alive, yet refuse to address the next few years when they can make a difference and which are absolutely crucial.?
]]>Oxfam?s report, "Climate Wrongs and Human Rights", sets out a new vision for a rights-based approach to climate change policymaking and highlights where current climate change negotiations are far from delivering what?s needed. Oxfam is submitting the report to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which is now reviewing the relationship between international human rights and climate change.
?People have an inherent right to a safe, secure, and healthy life, but this right is being threatened by the global climate crisis,? said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. ?Carbon emissions from industrialized countries have human and environmental consequences. As a result, climate change is violating the basic human rights of millions of the world?s poorest people to life, security, food, health and shelter.?
The organization called on climate change policies at national and international levels to be based on existing human rights principles.
?National and international leaders must recognize and address the harm to people occurring today and that will continue as a result of climate change,? said Offenheiser. ?The principles of human rights provide a strong foundation for policy making, as all states must respect, protect and fulfill human rights, and these principles must be put at the heart of a global deal to tackle global climate change.?
But current negotiations are currently off track to deliver the needed policies, according to Oxfam. The report asserts that adaptation financing for poor countries is being woefully under-resourced and that rich countries are failing to deliver sufficient finance and technology to help poor countries shift to low-carbon pathways and realize their right to development. Developed countries, led by the G8, are proposing merely to halve global emissions by 2050, when a cut of at least 80% in emissions by 2050 is necessary to prevent a catastrophic 2ï¾°C temperature increase that is likely to cause widespread violations of rights.
?If international negotiations do not deliver needed remedies for ongoing human rights violations caused by climate change, poor countries may be forced to explore other options, such as the possibility of litigation,? said Offenheiser. ?Rich country polluters in developed countries have been aware of their liability for many years now. If they fail to cut emissions and help people now, they could face legal action later.?
The authors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights could never have imagined having to deal with such a complex global challenge as climate change, so human right laws and institutions must evolve fast to keep up, according to Oxfam. While lawyers should push to have international courts recognize future injury and joint liability for climate-change damage, existing human rights principles are clearly sufficient to guide rich countries? policies to cut their emissions and finance adaptation.
?Urgently cutting emissions is the only way to respect and protect human rights from being violated by the impacts of climate change, and funding adaptation for the poorest people is the only remedy for those whose human rights have already been violated,? said Offenheiser.
]]>The Zimbabwean government has declared a national health emergency. Oxfam welcomed the declaration, saying that it should spur international donors to respond more urgently to the humanitarian needs.
"People have been going without enough food for months. They are hungry, weak, and vulnerable to infection. Some donors have immediately made sums available, and that will make a real difference. But this is far from enough. Unless the international community steps up to provide money for food and medical assistance immediately, the already dire situation will get much worse,? said Peter Mutoredzanwa, Country Director for Oxfam in Zimbabwe.
"Millions of people were already facing starvation. With unemployment over 80 percent, and food unavailable across the country, they now have to contend with cholera and other diseases as the water and sanitation systems break down. With the rainy season upon us, the epidemic will spread even more rapidly. Aid agencies urgently need support from the international community to scale up their efforts,? Mutoredzanwa added.
Ordinary Zimbabweans desperately need health care, clean water and sanitation. Cholera, a water-born disease, has surged due to the breakdown of city sewerage systems, poor maintenance of water supply systems, including hand pumps, severe drinking water shortages, and the lack of basic hygiene items such as soap.
?With close to half the population weakened by serious food shortages, cholera when it hits is even more likely to be lethal,? said Mutoredzanwa. ?Indications are that more than 5 million people will urgently need food aid by January.?
Oxfam is distributing 12,000 metric tons of maize meal, vegetable oil and pulses in collaboration with the World Food Program (WFP), reaching 150,000 vulnerable people. The agency?s cholera response will now be scaling up to target 615,000 people, and focusing on three of the worst hit areas: Beitbridge on the South African border; Budiriro, a suburb of Harare; and Mudzi, an area bordering Mozambique. The aid agency also plans to start moving into areas where cholera has not hit, to proactively prevent the spread of the disease.
?We are very concerned that unless donors pledge additional money now, food aid rations will have to be cut,? said Mutoredzanwa. ?No one should wait for a political solution in Zimbabwe before pledging to help—this will be too late for millions of vulnerable Zimbabweans.?
]]>?As the conflict in Chad and Darfur continues, victims of violence remain desperately in need of basic support systems. Now more than ever it is critical that the international community work towards putting an end to this crisis,? said Not On Our Watch co-founder Matt Damon.
The grant allows for Oxfam to serve over 200,000 vulnerable people at a time of desperate need. Plagued with continuing violence, a lack of basic services, and depleted food rations, refugees and displaced persons are becoming more vulnerable to hunger, disease and poverty every day.
The funding provided to Oxfam will support immediate action to avert future hunger and provide access to clean water for some of the region?s most vulnerable citizens?displaced families and their host communities. The programs include:
These actions will better equip communities to deal with upcoming challenges. With improved water, sanitation, agriculture and income, more resources will be available in times of need.
Oxfam continues to provide vital assistance to more than 500,000 people affected by the crisis, both in Darfur and eastern Chad. The agency provides essential access to clean water and sanitation, public health education, and livelihoods opportunities and training.
"Living on the brink of disaster, any additional factor could result in a sudden crisis for the people of Chad," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. ?The funding from Not On Our Watch helps Oxfam to plan for the future, and will help thousands of people to provide for themselves during lean times.?
]]>Oxfam International Director, Jeremy Hobbs said: "This is a major disappointment. At a time when food and fuel prices are high and the global economic outlook is uncertain, the world's poorest people are increasingly vulnerable. A decent trade deal could have given them a chance to prevent worsening poverty.
"Rich countries should have shown the political leadership to deliver trade reform that reduced poverty. Instead they defended vested interests and put poor countries under intense pressure to make concessions that have no place in a development round.
"This is another missed opportunity for trade reform that poor countries badly need and have been long promised. It was brought about by rich countries' failure to keep their word.
"It would be outrageous to blame poor countries for the failure to get a deal. If the EU and US had made meaningful offers that lived up to their promises, we might have seen progress. Instead, they demanded harsh concessions from developing countries in exchange for largely illusory reforms and limited flexibilities."
Talks have been going on since last Monday. There have been a number of controversial issues, including the details of the so called Special Safeguard Mechanism, designed to allow poor countries to protect their small farmers against subsidised agricultural import surges.
"We admire the resolve of developing countries that held out against a bad deal, and maintained unity in the face of unfair strain. The offers on agriculture from developed countries were inadequate and conditional on harsh concessions on industrial trade in return. At a time when prices are volatile, developing countries were right to fight for the flexibility to defend their smallest farmers and ensure food security," said Hobbs.
]]>The latest UN estimates suggest that the number of malnourished people worldwide has increased by 75m, to 925m, reversing progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving world hunger by 2015. Higher food prices indirectly affect progress towards many of the other Goals as well, not least because hunger negatively impacts on peoples? ability to work, stay healthy and for children to go to school.
Alison Woodhead, Oxfam International?s spokeswoman in New York said: ?In the face of these new and daunting challenges we need a dramatic shift in political will and ambition. This meeting must deliver concrete plans on how to keep these anti-poverty targets in our sights.?
Around 90 Heads of State and Governments, along with the CEOs of the world?s biggest businesses and hundreds of anti-poverty organizations, are expected to gather in New York on September 25th for the High-Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals, which will be hosted by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Oxfam is calling on them to treat this as an emergency summit and step up their efforts in the fight against poverty.
Alison Woodhead: ?Leaders must not just reissue empty promises, with their fingers crossed behind their backs. This is a poverty emergency that requires exactly the same attention and response as the financial crisis grabbing the headlines. Significant progress has been made but much more needs to be done.?
Remarkable progress is possible, even in the poorest countries. In Rwanda the number of children dying from malaria has been cut by two-thirds in the last two years alone. A boy born in Tanzania today is 25% less likely to die by his first birthday than his sister born just four years ago.
However on current trends, Oxfam warns that the MDGs will not be achieved. An additional $150bn per year is needed by 2010 to meet all the goals, less than double the amount spent (US$85b) to bail out a single insurance group, AIG.
Woodhead concluded: ?Given the turmoil in financial markets, rich countries will be tempted to tighten their belts. But we must do more, not less, if we are to prevent the real danger that progress on the MDGs will be wiped out. Since this summit was announced in January, increased food and oil prices have pushed millions more people into poverty.?
This week, Oxfam and other international agencies launch a major new campaigning action called ?in my name?, calling on citizens to hold their leaders accountable for promises made in the year 2000. The initiative brings together dignitaries such as Queen Rania of Jordan, Mary Robinson and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and celebrities from all continents including Rahul Bose, will.i.am, Angelique Kidjo, Wyclef Jean, Annie Lennox and Sergio Mendes.
]]>As part of its campaign calling for better essential services like health care, Oxfam calls on rich countries to lead the fight against the pandemic by fully funding the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and supporting poor countries to build their health systems, including the recruitment, training and retention of more health workers.
“In the global response to AIDS, the lack of trained doctors, nurses and community health workers is without doubt slowing us down. To effectively treat HIV and AIDS, there needs to be more and better training, decent working conditions and adequate salaries for tens of thousands of new doctors and nurses. This will only happen if donors provide more of their aid for health through sector and general budget support, and if developing countries prioritise health services in their national budgets,” said Enida Friel, Oxfam Internatinal Lead on HIV/AIDS.
In four provinces in Angola, Oxfam has been working closely with HIV support groups. Dolmingas dos Saleios Correia is the Advocacy Officer for Accao Humana, an Oxfam partner which operates in Luanda. She is HIV positive and has lost her husband and two children to AIDS.
“Things are improving in Angola. Anti-retrovirals are now freely available in syrup forms for children. However there are still many problems,” Dolmingas says. “In public hospitals for example, there are 10,000 adults on ARV treatment and only ten doctors. Additionally there are 15,000 children receiving ARVs with only two doctors available. The need for more health workers is urgent.”
In Malawi, one of the worst-affected countries in the world, around two out of every three of the 187,000 HIV-positive people are now receiving treatment.
Just five years ago virtually no-one in Malawi was getting treatment. Survival rates are now at around 70%, which is a massive success story says Oxfam.
However, the lack of treatment and care for tens of thousands of patients remains a huge problem. Lingalireni Mihowa, an HIV and AIDS Advisor for Oxfam: "It’s a sad situation when poor Malawians waited this long to have access to free ARV drugs, and now the main barrier to accessing those drugs is the lack of doctors and nurses to administer those life-saving medicines.
“There are just not enough doctors and nurses to respond to the demands of patients. Luckily enough, the Government of Malawi is working with donors and the Global Fund to sort out the situation, but we have still reached a crisis point,” she said.
In India, which has between 2 million to more than 3 million people living with HIV, the largest number outside of Africa, Oxfam runs various programs.
Like in many other countries Oxfam believes that while prevention programs are important, these alone are not enough to halt the increase in infections.
“Sub-Saharan Africa and especially Southern Africa are the regions worst affected by HIV and AIDS. Even though the HIV prevalence is slowing down in some African countries such as Zimbabwe or Kenya, the need to invest in training and support of health professionals is now more imperative then ever.
Building health systems that also deliver reproductive health care is a long term investment in halting and reversing the epidemic worldwide,” said Dr. Friel.
]]>“This new text threatens to drive discussions off the road and into a ditch,” said Antonio Hill, Oxfam’s senior adviser on climate change. “The Bush Administration proposes to strip the most important elements out of this agreement. Global emissions are still rising, and voluntary cuts by rich countries just won’t work. Poor people will suffer the terrible consequences of continued delay.”
Ministers of 189 countries are seeking to hammer out a final deal in the UN climate change conference. Oxfam calls for developing countries, the EU and others to reject the US proposal and hold fast to binding targets and financing for adaptation and technology, urgently needed by the world’s poorest people.
Since the start of the negotiations, Ministers from both rich and poor countries pushed for real action on climate change that would put poor people first. Meanwhile the US, backed by Canada and Japan, has continued to demand that developing countries take on targets, while withholding commitments to address financing and technology for adaptation for the countries that need it most. But it is the responsibility of rich countries to move first and fastest, since they created the vast majority of historical emissions.
“Developing countries, who are most vulnerable to climate impacts, have demonstrated tremendous commitment, flexibility and assertiveness in these talks, but at the eleventh hour, this goodwill has been subverted by the Bush Administration,” continued Hill. “The challenge of climate change is too huge to wait for laggard governments to fall in line. Progress here in Bali is crucial.”
While US negotiators feign cooperation on one of the key elements in Bali—a negotiation track that ends in 2009—the timing and content of last night’s proposal demonstrate this is simply a ploy to carry on with business as usual, according to Oxfam.
“This position ironically comes at a time of hope, with last week’s historic motion in the US Senate,” said Hill. “The will and public concern of Americans to take the strong action needed on climate change is clear. But American delegates here in Bali are undermining prospects for similar progress internationally.”
]]>The FRESH or Farm, Ranch, Energy, Stewardship and Health Amendment, introduced by Senate Agriculture Committee Member Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and co-sponsored by Ben Cardin (D-MD), Susan Collins (R-ME), Pete Domenici (R-NM), John McCain (R-AZ), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Jack Reed (D-RI), John Sununu (R-NH), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) would have brought about much-needed reform to US farm policy in a way that would serve more farmers more fairly, according to Oxfam.
“Not only would the FRESH Amendment have been a better deal for American farmers and taxpayers, but it would also have aligned our agricultural policy and our international trade obligations,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America. ”Instead, by rejecting the FRESH amendment senators chose to turn their backs on American family farmers and their brethren in poor countries elsewhere who struggle to make a living from the land. By voting to maintain the status quo, the Senate has elected to continue farm programs that fuel overproduction, raise land prices, and lower commodity prices abroad.”
“Instead of helping the truly needy, the Senate has decided to continue to subsidize the truly greedy in rejecting the comprehensive farm bill reform advocated by Senators Lugar and Lautenberg,” said Offenheiser.
“Few options remain in this Farm Bill to provide some reform of a subsidy program that has long outlasted its purpose and utility. If senators aren’t willing to reform farm programs, at least they can reduce the giveaways by supporting limits on the farm subsidies paid. Supporting the Dorgan-Grassley payment limits amendment will be an important first step down that path.”
]]>The US and EU have billed their proposal to eliminate tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers on a list of 43 climate-friendly goods as bold and new, but according to Oxfam, it is neither.
“The UN conference on climate change is being used as a pretext to dust off old proposals that haven’t gotten anywhere at the WTO,” said Oxfam spokesperson Barry Coates. “The EU and the US are passing around old wine in new bottles, but developing countries aren’t fooled.”
The list of goods proposed for liberalization includes products relating to wind, solar, and clean coal energy technologies, drawn from a list of in a recent World Bank study. The proposal also seeks to eliminate tariffs on an additional list of 150 environmental goods, as previously submitted by OECD countries in the context of current WTO negotiations, such as all laboratory equipment. The proposal goes further to include very ambitious objectives in services liberalization, calling for a binding of existing levels of market access and national treatment as well as new liberalization on a large number of services.
“Similar proposals have been floated in Doha negotiations by the US and the EU before, but discussion at the technical level in the WTO negotiations has been unable to resolve the difficulties inherent in such a list based on approach,” said Coates. “Liberalization of goods and services in developing countries, including in the environmental sector, has been the modus operandi for the US and the EU in the Doha round, while steadfastly refusing to undertake the reform of their unfair trade practices.”
Many of the products and services on the list are from developed countries and have uses far beyond that of environmental benefit and certainly beyond greenhouse gas reductions. Green technologies developed in rich countries are usually too expensive and not the most appropriate for developing countries. Furthermore, the opening of sectors such as sanitation, as included in this proposal, has often resulted in poor quality of services and little if any improvement in affordable access for poor communities.
“This proposal attempts to perpetuate the perception that the climate change challenge at the WTO can be easily addressed through promoting trade in a select few goods and services,” said Coates. “Any liberalization of environmental goods and services has to be debated within the context of development, be pro-poor, and meet defined objectives for addressing climate change without undermining the policy space of developing countries.”
For these negotiations to deliver an appropriate pro-poor outcome, a broader, more sustainable development dimension must be undertaken, one that is not based solely on trade liberalization, according to Oxfam. This includes ensuring the reflection of the principle of special and differential treatment and less than full reciprocity.
“Ensuring that clean technologies are effectively and sustainably transferred to developing countries—with appropriate policy measures to support adoption, adaptation, research and development, and product innovation—is the way to go,” continued Coates. “But so far, we’ve only had broken promises on finance, broken promises on technology transfers, and overly restrictive intellectual property rights.”
]]>The new aid comes after Oxfam distributed 350,000 litres of potable water in urban-affected areas last week, along with 2,500 blankets among rural families, helping to ease the suffering during the unusually cold winter.
On Tuesday, Oxfam began installing 20 water tanks, which will provide clean and safe water for the first 1,500 people in the countryside, all who live in the rural districts of Humay and Independencia. Oxfam is providing a cistern truck to fill the tanks for a total of 19,000 litres of water every day.
“Our main concern right now is clean water and sanitation because these are absolutely crucial to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Now, the people of Humay and Independencia, who actually helped us install the tanks with their own hands, are accessing water that is even cleaner than what they had before the earthquake. In the coming weeks we will provide them with training so they can keep the water clean for weeks and months to come,” said Jacobo Ocharán, Oxfam’s emergency response manager.
In the rural districts of Humay and Independencia, located 30 and 12 km outside of Pisco respectively, Oxfam is meeting basic shelter needs while striving to minimize disruptions to the communities. Many of the destroyed homes in these districts are situated on pieces of land with enough space to safely erect a family’s tent. The remaining families are setting up shelters in small camps of 10 to 40 tents in open areas close to their original houses. By providing temporary shelter for individual families, Oxfam’s work will allow inhabitants to remain on their land.
“We are trying to place these tents in familiar settings close to people’s homes to help residents feel less vulnerable. Also, it makes the reconstruction of their homes easier, which is important because we don’t want the temporary shelters to become permanent homes,” said Ocharán.
There have been great improvements in the distribution of aid in the two weeks that have passed since the earthquake struck; however, much work remains to be done. Oxfam is working closely with the international aid community and the government, including local authorities and state institutions, to ensure that aid is being distributed to those who need it most.
“Oxfam field staff are helping local authorities and leaders to assess the damage and the needs of the families affected by the earthquake. This is the only way of ensuring that aid is distributed to the people who really need it, and that it is distributed in an equal and fair way,” said Ocharán. “We’re also trying to continue strengthening residents’ participation in helping provide relief and rehabilitation in their own communities. We know from past experience that when communities are well organized and involved, relief efforts and reconstruction are more likely to succeed.”
]]>“Congress did the right thing today in extending trade preferences for Andean countries, but a permanent extension of these programs is needed,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America. “In a region where half of the population lives in poverty, trade preferences have created millions of jobs and made it possible for Andean countries to export products like clothing and jewelry, cut flowers and asparagus to the United States duty-free for more than 15 years.”
Andean and other developing countries have held preferential duty-free market access to the US as a means of stimulating economic growth and poverty reduction. These preference programs have contributed to the development of manufacturing and agricultural sectors in many developing countries. They have also helped create jobs, in many cases for women, who have relatively few economic alternatives. Businesses in the US have also benefited from preferences, relying on goods imported duty-free to be used as inputs into products that are manufactured here. Furthermore, requirements for participation preference programs have been used to bring about greater respect for workers’ rights.
“Continuation of the preference programs will support additional growth and further stimulate export diversification in these growing economies, harnessing the opportunity of trade as a way of achieving sustained economic growth and poverty reduction,” said Offenheiser.
The United States is the Andean countries’ most important trading partner. Over half of Andean country exports to the United States now enter under the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA). An estimated 2.3 million jobs in the Andean countries depend on these exports under ATPA. For example, two-thirds of Bolivia’s exports under ATPA are manufactured products such as jewelry, apparel, and wooden furniture, and the vast majority of companies involved in their manufacture are small and micro-enterprises that provide decent, formal-sector jobs. Non-traditional exports like cut flowers and asparagus have grown particularly rapidly in Andean countries under ATPA, even though petroleum-based products still make up about two-thirds of the value of exports that benefit from this preference program.
Poverty and inequality continue to be pervasive in Andean countries, with the richest 10 percent of the population taking home over 40 percent of national income, while the poorest 10 percent survive on less than 1.4 percent. Poverty in rural areas has been the driver of continued illicit crop cultivation in the Andean region, where more than 98 percent of the world’s coca leaf is cultivated. As long as poverty persists in these countries, farmers will continue to turn to illicit coca cultivation to help pay for basic essentials.
“Poverty and inequality continue to be pervasive in Andean countries, a situation that can generate social unrest, spur migration, and encourage illicit crop cultivation,” continued Offenheiser. “These problems need to be addressed through US foreign policy and counter-narcotics strategy, but alternative development efforts and preferential access to the US market will continue to play a pivotal role.”
]]>As the House of Representatives did last month, the Senate passed the trade deal after significant modifications negotiated by the Democratic leadership on labor, the environment, and intellectual property rules affecting access to medicines. These revisions took an important step toward making trade work for people living in poverty but remain insufficient to overcome the agreement's adverse effects on development and poverty reduction in Peru, according to Oxfam.
"The Peru FTA fails to address development needs as one of its core objectives and locks in an uneven playing field between the US and Peru,"
>said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. "Although the Democratic leadership worked hard to make this agreement better, its provisions on agriculture and investment will do more harm than good for farmers, workers and consumers in Peru."<p>
The agreement fails to take into account US agriculture subsidies, according to Oxfam, meaning that Peru's small farmers will face massive dumping of subsidized farm products on their market.
"By fully opening Peru's markets to subsidized US agricultural products, this trade agreement will destroy our domestic agriculture, threaten our food security and increase social problems," said Luis Zúñiga, president of the National Convention of Peruvian Agriculture (Conveagro). "Farmers'
>demands for greater public investment in and modernization of the agricultural sector have gone unmet over many years, but now our needs will be far greater and the threat to our livelihoods far worse."<p>
"The agreement provides special rights for foreign investors who want to operate in Peru at the expense of weakened ability on the part of the government to establish laws that promote social welfare and a better distribution of wealth," according to Pedro Francke, a Peruvian expert on social policy to combat poverty and former director of the health organization FOROSALUD. "In spite of the modifications made to the intellectual property rules of the agreement, provisions remain that will make it more difficult for Peru to promote access to affordable medicines."
Civil society organizations in Peru are urging strong vigilance and monitoring of measures required for Peru to implement its obligations in the new trade deal, particularly those included by the Democratic leadership. "We need broad public debate on all legislative and regulatory changes in Peru to allow diverse voices to be heard, particularly those who stand to be adversely affected," said Alejandra Alayza, director of the Peruvian Network for Globalization with Equity. "It is fundamental to ensure that reforms in the areas of labor rights, environmental protection, and intellectual property rules fully incorporate all rights and obligations in accordance with the modifications to the agreement."
"This deal could be a serious blow to Peru's 14 million inhabitants who live in poverty, most of them in rural areas where agriculture is the main source of income," continued Offenheiser. "The bottom line is that this trade agreement's adverse effects on Peruvians will outweigh its limited benefits, which will primarily accrue to a limited group of exporters, whose current duty-free access to the US under the Andean Trade Preferences Act will be made permanent."
]]>"Bali has for the first time drawn up a roadmap for all countries to tackle climate change. But a handful of powerful countries have relegated the overwhelming scientific evidence to a footnote. The Bush Administration—dragging Canada, Japan and Russia in tow—has thrown away the compass and is trying to force us all to take the journey in a gas-guzzling 4x4, not the solar-powered speedster that the world urgently needs."
"The Bali result sets the stage for addressing fairness—all countries will have to limit emissions. But rich countries will have to kick the carbon habit first and poor countries need to see them do it. A door has been held opened for the US to join. The danger is that developing countries will be forced through the same door."
"Without a clear range for the global emissions cuts needed, this deal fails to keep us from the brink of exceeding 2°C of warming. Far from the negotiating halls of Bali, poor people waist-high in floods and children malnourished by failed harvests will demand to know, why did world leaders not see what we face and act urgently to stop it?"
"This outcome is a clear call to the citizens of the United States, Canada, Japan and Russia. Demand more. Only you can push your governments to deliver justice for poor people facing the next drought, flood or cyclone."
"Developing countries came to Bali ready to talk, willing to listen, but also demanding to be heard. A handful of the richest nations—led by the Bush Administration—have rebuffed their will and sapped the strength of what Bali had to offer. It's a deep insult to the world's poorest people."
"All the countries of the world are now united around delivering the Bali Roadmap by 2009, despite repeated US moves to hollow out these talks. But the level of ambition in the agreement still does not match the urgent need. The cost of not going far enough will be felt a long way from the air-conditioned halls of this luxury hotel. It will be paid in poor countries, by women and men forced to reap the failed harvests of our collective inaction."
"At long last the UN climate talks have started to grapple with the devastating impacts climate change is already having on the world's poorest people. Coping with these impacts comes at a price that rich polluters must pay. Under pressure from developing countries, Bali has delivered clear progress: a fund for adaptation is now in place and all countries agree that more money must be raised. But with estimated costs exceeding $50 billion annually, we now need to see rich countries put some serious money forward."
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