Oxfam America

Hardest hit: Survival strategies from the frontlines of climate change

ldiolosa — 2011-06-01T01:30:24Z

Hardest hit: Louisiana

mborum — 2010-05-25T18:00:30Z

People-centered resilience

mborum — 2011-06-08T14:58:44Z

Globally, 1.7 billion farmers are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The many who are already hungry are particularly vulnerable. World hunger currently stands at 1.02 billion people, its highest level ever. Yet scaling up localised ‘resilience’ successes offers hope for these farmers, while helping to address the climate problem. New thinking to recognize vulnerable farmers as critical partners in delivering solutions is needed to increase their resilience and to enable them to help combat climate change. Bold new public investment to the supporting institutions will be needed.

Achieving farm resilience requires building up the resilience of vulnerable farmers by developing their skills, expertise and voice while supporting their use of agro-ecological farming practices. Building resilience depends not just on how farmers manage resources, but on how well local, national, and global institutions support farmers. Agro-ecological practices can empower vulnerable small-scale farmers, offering them both greater control over their lives and an accessible means of improving their food security, while decreasing their risk of crop failure or livestock death due to climate shocks. Vulnerable farmers can use agro-ecological practices to build resilient farms and improve their livelihoods, achieving multiple benefits: 1. improved food security; 2. adaptation to a changing climate; and 3. mitigation of climate change.

People-centred resilience consists of five principles which should guide how investments in vulnerable farming communities are designed and implemented. They are:

Restored and diversified natural resources for sustainability.
Responsive institutions grounded in local context.
Expanded and improved sustainable livelihood options.
Sound gender dynamics and gender equality.
Farmer-driven decisions.

Following these principles ensures that investments support farmers in their efforts to become food-secure and adapt to climate change. Four institutions central to delivering people-centered resilience are: secure land rights; dynamic farmer associations; responsive agricultural advisory services; and public support for environmental services.

The new adaptation marketplace

mborum — 2011-06-08T19:58:24Z

Climate change is a growing humanitarian crisis that we cannot ignore. Developing innovative ways to adapt to its impacts is a necessity. Policies that address the impact of global warming on the world’s most vulnerable communities can drive the market toward new innovation and stimulate the US economy.

OXFAMExchange Fall 2008

mborum — 2009-06-15T18:27:53Z

Because 40 percent of the people on our planet live in poverty and Oxfam is working to change that, it's our job to highlight issues that are often overlooked in US politics. In this issue of OXFAMExchange, we've included some information at the end of each article to help you think about how the lives of people around the world are affected by our political choices here. Oxfam is nonpartisan: we ask all the candidates to take concrete steps toward finding lasting solutions to poverty and social injustice. The incoming administration will assume responsibility for a country in crisis—fighting two wars and an economic recession. These are undeniably difficult times. It is all too easy to feel that real change is nothing more than a pipe dream. When cynicism or doubt gets the better of us, we must all remember: Oxfam has always and will always invest most heavily in people's efforts to transform their own communities. The people featured in this issue leave no doubt that determination and innovation can create change—with or without strong federal leadership. And these successes are what keep us all going—these and your shared commitment to the possibility of a world without poverty and injustice.

View this publication in a larger window

OXFAMExchange Fall 2005

lmcfarlane — 2009-04-30T19:32:57Z

For some people in the developing world, the chance to overcome poverty takes the form of pipes and pumps to irrigate fields. For others, it's the savings group that allows them to put aside income for bigger goals and to borrow money when they need it. It's electricity and a freezer. It's learning to read and write. It's a chance to sell cotton or corn at a profit.

The stories that follow testify to the fact that aid can be used effectively—in Africa and beyond. By investing directly in people, by helping them gain access to education, credit, and natural resources, by challenging the policies that perpetuate poverty, Oxfam puts the systems in place that can end poverty. Without this work—and your support—people remain hungry, poor, and lacking meaningful ways to change their lives.

Together, we have the chance to make that change.

OXFAMExchange Fall 2002

mborum — 2009-04-30T21:05:19Z

What's in your coffee? Oxfam's coffee campaign. Plus Oxfam in Afghanistan, Coldplay support Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign, southern Africa food crisis, and the Hopi people's struggle with an energy giant.

G20 must put fight against poverty at the center of global economic reforms

mborum — 2010-09-27T20:04:33Z

WASHINGTON, DC — The G20 must avoid small-scale tinkering and instead take immediate, aggressive action to tackle poverty while laying out an ambitious vision for reforming the world economy at its Financial Crisis Summit here Saturday.

In a new report, If Not Now, When?, international relief and development agency Oxfam says that people living in poverty will be hit hard by the financial crisis unless urgent action is taken, adding that the poor should not have to pay for rich countries? mistakes.

"Poor people had little to do with creating the crisis, but will carry the heaviest burden, whether it is families evicted from their homes in Detroit, or children dying in Mali for want of basic medical care," said Oxfam spokesperson Gawain Kripke.

The International Labor Organization estimates the number of workers living on less than one dollar a day may increase by 40 million and those living on less than two dollars a day could increase by more than 100 million. All of this while poor countries are still reeling from the impact of food and oil price increases, and increasing droughts, floods and other climate-related weather shocks. Grain-price increases cost developing economies $324 billion last year—more than three times what they received in aid.

"There is a risk that recessions in rich countries will lead politicians to take the short-sighted approach of cutting aid. Given the tiny amounts of money involved compared to rich country economies, this would do little more than offer symbolic budget savings, but at huge human cost," said Kripke. "Aid to all developing countries last year was $104 billion. In comparison the US and EU mobilized nearly 30 times this—around $3 trillion—in the last few months to help bail out their banks."

"Rich countries made promises and must keep them. But their work cannot end there—aid is not the whole answer," said Kripke. "We cannot repeat what happened around the Asian financial crisis, where no substantial reform was agreed. To prevent future crises and protect the poor over the long term, leaders must seize this opportunity to rewrite the rules to curb instability and make the market work for all, not just a few at the top of the economic food chain."

In If Not Now, When?, Oxfam says that global leaders should immediately develop a new international regulatory institution with teeth, to prevent future financial crises and protect the interests of workers, consumers, and the environment. This includes taking on the secretive tax havens which undermine regulations and rob poor countries' of vital revenue that could be spent on schools and hospitals. It also calls for leaders to build a new representative global governance structure to tackle the economic, climate, food and energy crises.

"We're dealing with a whole new world—the G20 is facing a seismic shift in global power," said Kripke. "It's painfully clear that the world's multilateral institutions are out of date and ill-equipped to deal with the multiple crises that are now upon us, whether related to finance, food, fuel or climate. Reform must include far greater roles for developing countries as well as the poorest. Rich countries are going to have to concede some power on governing bodies like the G20 because they are desperate to get their hands on the huge financial reserves held by emerging markets."

Oxfam urges global leaders to see the opportunity to develop a new 21st century political and economic system that puts people and planet before profits. Oxfam calls on the G20 leaders to do three things:

Honor the OECD pledge not to cut development assistance, and increase aid instead by an additional $140 billion necessary to meet the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNI immediately. In addition, urgently extend credit to emerging markets facing liquidity crises.
Rewrite global financial rules and regulations, including tackling tax havens and moving towards a more stable exchange rate system, in order to make the market work for all and not just for the few.
Build a new representative global governance system that can effectively tackle the economic, food, and energy crises.

"Just last week the world witnessed a massive political shift in the US," said Kripke. "World leaders meeting this weekend should harness this momentum and commit to a way forward on finding serious, long-term solutions to financial instability and the global economic downturn that work for all."