Tackle eco-degradation to achieve MDGs: Spanish NGOs launch July 7 plans

"CIVIL SOCIETY HAS TO KNOCK AT THE DOOR OF THE GOVERNMENT TO MAKE SURE THEY ACKNOWLEDGE THE MAGNITUDE OF THE SITUATION FACING THE WORLD'S POOR.  THEY HAVE TO ADOPT A PERSONAL COMMITMENT TO CHANGE THE SITUATION." Jose Maria Medina, President of the Spanish Coordinatation of Development NGOs.

Madrid, June 27th June: The Spanish Alliance Against Poverty today launched its plans to mark the halfway point for reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals.  Highlighting the powerful link between increased migration from Africa as a result of environmental degradation and the increasing levels of energy consumption in Spain, the alliance called for Spanish people to mobilise in Madrid on the 7th of July.

Reducing consumption in the North, said speakers from the Alliance, is a matter of political will and raising public awareness of how it affects the entire planet and impoverishes millions of people is a collective responsability.

To raise awareness of the issue and mobilise people throughout 2007, the Alliance announced details of a debate on the state of the MDGs and a "eco-friendly" concert being held in the city of Madrid on July 7t.  They will focus on the slow pace of governments in meeting their MDG commitments and on ways Spanish people can contribute to the climate change debate on behalf of the world's poor.

Noting that 20% of the world's population is responsible for 76% of
emissions, the Alliance Against Poverty asked for a new economic and energy model to be developed that puts forward poverty erradication as a human rights question.

"If every rooftop in Madrid used a solar planel it would create enough energy to power the whole country," said Tom Kucharz of the NGO Ecologistas en Acción.

"If we see how drought affects farmers here in Spain, who use 85% of drinking water to irrigate their lands in bad spells, we must be able to grasp how the livelihoods of millions of people in developing countries who do not have access to any water at all, let alone for drinking water, must be affected by climate change," he added.

July 1st – Valencia, Malvarrosa Beach
Linked to the America’s Cup yachting race in Valencia Event on beach - inviting 2000 people to come to beach to form the words Pobreza Cero on the sand.

July 6th - Logrono
CONGD de La Rioja will lead a march through the city followed by a round table discussion on the MDGs in the Puerta Munillo.

July 6th - 15th - Gijon
The campaign will raise awareness of the MDG mid point during the
International Cultural Fair.

July 7th – Madrid 18:00
Fundacion Once - Spanish Anti Poverty Alliance will host a debate on
the MDGs  "8 barriers to achieving the MDGs". Moderated by a journalist from Spanish nations TV TVE, the panel will include Flora Trtistan from Peru, Dot Keet from the Africa Trade network, Carmen Jerez from the Conferdeation of Indigenous people of Ecuador  and Carlos Berzosa, Rector of the Complutense University in Madrid.

July 7th – 20:00  Plaza Augustin Lara - “Eco-friendly concert” being organised in city centre square with support from the environmental movement- Ecologists in Action. Using solar panels to generate energy, the concert aims to raise awareness among the Spanish public of how the current interlinked patterns of energy use and planetary degredation are affecting lives.

Performances from:  Red House, Los Pasajeros, Mara Oberon, El Quinto Parpadeo.

Contact:
Portal Touza,
Pobreza Cero
ptouza@pobrezacero.org
Tlfno: + 34 91 521 09 55

For more information, contact:
Ciara O'Sullivan
Media Coordinator
Global Call to Action Against Poverty - GCAP
www.whiteband.org
Spain Cel: +34 679 594 809
Spain office (CONGDE): + 34 915 23 98 65
Skype name: cmosullivan