All Publications http://www.oxfamamerica.org These are the search results for the query, showing results 341 to 355. Climate Alarm http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/climate-alarm Disasters increase as climate change bites Climatic disasters are increasing as temperatures climb and rainfall intensifies. A rise in small- and medium-scale disasters is a particularly worrying trend. Yet even extreme weather need not bring disasters; it is poverty and powerlessness that make people vulnerable. Though more emergency aid is needed, humanitarian response must do more than save lives: it has to link to climate change adaptation and bolster poor people’s livelihoods through social protection and disaster risk reduction approaches.

]]> No publisher mborum climate change 2009-06-09T21:28:03Z Research Report Investing for Life http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/investing-for-life Meeting poor people's needs for access to medicines through responsible business practices There are major shortcomings in the pharmaceutical industry's current initiatives to ensure that poor people have access to medicines. To shore up its own flagging economic performance, the industry is increasingly looking to the potentially huge markets within emerging economies. Yet, poor people who live in these countries still desperately lack affordable and appropriate medicines. The time is ripe for a bold new approach. The industry must put access to medicines at the heart of its decision-making and practices. This is both a more sustainable long-term business strategy and would allow the industry to better play its role in achieving the universal right to health.

]]> No publisher mborum 2010-08-10T20:45:05Z Briefing Paper Up in Smoke? Asia and the Pacific http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/up-in-smoke-asia-and-the-pacific The fifth report from the Working Group on Climate Change and Development. The fifth report from the Working Group on Climate Change and Development

The human drama of climate change will largely be played out in Asia, where over 60 per cent of the world's population, around four billion people, live. The latest global scientific consensus from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that all of Asia is very likely to warm during this century. Warming will be accompanied by less predictable and more extreme patterns of rainfall. Tropical cyclones are projected to increase in magnitude and frequency, while monsoons, around which farming systems are designed, are expected to become more temperamental in their strength and time of onset. This report asks, will global warming send Asia and the Pacific 'up in smoke'?

]]> No publisher mborum Central and South Asia East Asia climate change 2009-05-29T21:29:11Z Research Report OXFAMExchange Fall 2007 http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/fall-2007 Moving Toward Lasting Solutions in Gambia Lasting solutions take time, and part of our challenge is to help find answers that anticipate future hardships—a broken pump, a refugee crisis—and allow people to prepare for them. Showing up with water or food addresses immediate problems but does nothing to improve things long-term. A water pump that can easily be repaired or a cereal bank that holds grain against future shortages is a different approach to meeting needs. It's an Oxfam approach—one that empowers local people by giving them control. In this issue of Exchange, we present two such success stories alongside two recent major campaign victories: the groundbreaking Starbucks case and a landmark win for indigenous Bolivians. All of these stories fulfill our desire for change and, in reality, all were or were part of long-term efforts.

Open publication
]]> No publisher mborum Gambia West Africa disaster risk reduction food security global food crisis humanitarian relief peace and security women 2009-06-08T16:53:35Z Oxfam Exchange Saving Lives http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/saving-lives Disasters, and the way we respond to them, can be catalysts for social change—a chance to create lasting solutions to poverty and injustice. When disaster strikes, Oxfam and its local partners move fast to meet people's emergency needs. And we stay to work with those devastated communities as they rebuild for a better and safer future. Our aim is to help people become less vulnerable to disasters by addressing the underlying causes of the poverty that put them in harm's way. Our comprehensive response to disasters includes the following:

  • Meeting people's basic needs
  • Helping people improve their means of earning a living
  • Improving public health
  • Advocating for people’s rights
  • Working with communities to reduce the impact of future disasters
]]> No publisher Oxfam America humanitarian relief 2011-06-29T14:21:52Z Brochure Working together to end poverty and injustice http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/working-together-to-end-poverty-and-injustice An overview of Oxfam America and our approach to poverty relief and lasting social change. Forty percent of the people on our planet—more than 2.5 billion—live in poverty, struggling to survive on less than $2 a day. Oxfam America is working to change that. In a world rich in resources, we believe poverty can be overcome.

]]> No publisher mborum 2009-06-24T19:37:54Z Brochure Oxfam in the Horn of Africa http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/oxfam-in-the-horn-of-africa Drought. Conflict. Low crop prices. These are among the realities that poor people across the Horn of Africa face on a daily basis. But with new tools for channeling water, building peace, and influencing markets, people are beginning to wrest control over their lives. Ethiopia is a country of contrasts—from the cool, wet highlands of the coffee farmers to the scorched pastures of the lowland herders. The challenges here and throughout the Horn remain enormous. Conflict plagues Sudan to the west and Somalia to the east. And widespread poverty traps people in lives of hardship. Since 2000, Oxfam America has been helping local communities survive conflict and marshal their natural resources in ways that strengthen families, villages, and whole regions.

]]> No publisher Oxfam America human rights equality for women hunger Sudan climate change livelihood Ethiopia Somalia peace and security agriculture livestock food security Darfur global food crisis internally displaced persons coffee water humanitarian relief women Horn of Africa disaster risk reduction 2009-06-09T20:42:44Z Brochure Sink or Swim http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/sink-or-swim-why-disaster-risk-reduction-is-central-to-surviving-floods-in-south-asia Why Disaster Risk Reduction is central to surviving floods in South Asia International development agency Oxfam calls for a radical rethink in the way South Asian governments implement policies to defend against floods and respond to their aftermath.

]]> No publisher lmcfarlane 2009-05-29T20:41:32Z Briefing Paper Rising to the humanitarian challenge in Iraq http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/rising-to-the-humanitarian-challenge-in-iraq While horrific violence dominates the lives of millions of ordinary people inside Iraq, another kind of crisis, also due to the impact of war, has been slowly unfolding. Up to eight million people are now in need of emergency assistance.

This figure includes:

  • four million people who are 'food-insecure and in dire need of different types of humanitarian assistance'
  • more than two million displaced people inside Iraq
  • over two million Iraqis in neighbouring countries, mainly Syria and Jordan, making this the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world.
]]> No publisher rbaker Iraq Middle East humanitarian relief peace and security 2009-05-29T20:45:04Z Briefing Paper Oxfam Impact June 2007 http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/oxfam-impact-june-2007 Feeding a nation For many Cambodian families, rice provides the primary means of making a living and the main staple of every meal. With valuable financial support from Oxfam America, our partner is teaching farmers how to raise their yields and use those extra profits to improve the quality of everyday life. (This edition of Oxfam Impact includes a separate special report.)

]]> No publisher rbaker Cambodia East Asia SRI agriculture food security hunger 2009-03-25T20:44:26Z Oxfam Impact Shut Out http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/shut-out How US farm programs fail minority farmers The current version of the US Farm Bill represents a broken promise to America's rural communities particularly African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian farmers and ranchers. Farm policies have created a faulty system that favors big farms over small farms, rewards overproduction of commodity crops instead of conservation and diversified operations, and disproportionately benefits white farmers. US minority farmers receive 1 percent of all commodity payments. The remaining 99 percent is distributed to their white counterparts. Reauthorization of the Farm Bill, which is currently being debated in Congress, provides a rare chance to redress these inequities.

]]> No publisher mborum 2009-06-08T16:11:46Z Research Report Impacts of Reductions in US Cotton Subsidies on West African Cotton Producers http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/impacts-of-reductions-in-us-cotton-subsidies-on-west-african-cotton-producers One of the first studies of its kind after the US reformed a controversial export subsidy program called “Step 2,” Paying the Price estimates how much farmer incomes in West Africa could increase after further subsidy reform, and what these gains would mean in practical terms for a typical West African cotton farming household.

The report confirms that substantial reform of American cotton subsidies in the 2007 Farm Bill could lead to increased income to feed an additional million children for a year or pay school fees for at least two million children living in poor West African cotton-growing households.

]]> No publisher lmcfarlane 2009-06-08T16:09:27Z Research Report Oxfam in West Africa http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/oxfam-in-west-africa Across the vast Sahel and down through the lush rainforests of Ghana, there is a growing sense of possibility. Recent changes have created space for greater civil participation, and the people of West Africa are stepping forward to seize this opportunity and create change.

West Africa has made enormous strides toward democracy in recent years. Amid enduring poverty, vibrant networks of farmers, young people, and human rights activists—men and women alike—have emerged, uniting and mobilizing to confront injustice. With funding, training, and advocacy support from Oxfam, these energetic groups are seeking to improve their lives, to participate in decisions that affect them, to speak out, and to break away from the fate of poverty.

]]> No publisher Oxfam America Burkina Faso Chad Gambia Ghana Guinea-Bissau Mali Niger Senegal West Africa 2009-06-24T19:38:46Z Brochure The World is Still Waiting http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/the-world-is-still-waiting Broken G8 promises are costing millions of lives As the 2007 German G8 summit approaches, the demands of the millions of anti-poverty campaigners worldwide are clear. G8 leaders must increase and improve aid to provide health, education, water and sanitation for all. They must cancel more debt and deliver trade justice. They must take urgent action to bring peace to the world’s most troubled countries and to halt the devastating impact of climate change. Where action has been taken by G8 countries, lives are being saved. Yet despite some areas of real progress, in the past two years overall progress has fallen far short of promises. The cost of this inaction is millions of lives lost due to poverty. G8 countries must meet their promises to the world.

]]> No publisher mborum 2010-09-27T20:09:54Z Briefing Note Adapting to Climate Change http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/adapting-to-climate-change What's needed in poor countries, and who should pay Climate change is forcing vulnerable communities in poor countries to adapt to unprecedented climate stress. Rich countries, primarily responsible for creating the problem, must stop harming, by fast cutting their greenhouse-gas emissions, and start helping, by providing finance for adaptation. In developing countries Oxfam estimates that adaptation will cost at least $50 billion each year, and far more if global emissions are not cut rapidly. Urgent work is necessary to gain a more accurate picture of the costs to the poor. According to Oxfam's new Adaptation Financing Index, the USA, European Union, Japan, Canada, and Australia should contribute over 95 percent of the finance needed. This finance must not be counted towards meeting the UN-agreed target of 0.7 percent for aid. Rich countries are planning multibillion dollar adaptation measures at home, but to date they have delivered just $48 million to international funds for least-developed country adaptation, and have counted it as aid: an unacceptable inequity in global responses to climate change.

]]> No publisher rbaker 2009-05-28T21:53:18Z Briefing Paper