Man-Made solutions to Man-Made Problems

Opinion Piece

As the G8 Finance Ministers gather in Osaka, tackling the state of the world’s poorest people must be at the front of their minds. As oil prices, the current food crisis and the looming global economic meltdown will be hotly debated, it is imperative that the ministers reassert themselves in the fight against global poverty by reviving momentum towards the Millennium Development Goals set eight years ago.

2008-06-12 Since 2000, some progress has been made in global heath and education. But the truth is that halfway towards the 2015 deadline, all the goals are off-track and funding is falling woefully below par.

At half–time, instead of coasting to victory, the world is staring at shameful defeat.

Food and oil prices threaten to reverse the successful leaps towards the goals so far, driving millions of women, children and men back to poverty and denying them their basic human rights to food, health care, education and water.

Now is the time to replace empty rhetoric with action. G8 Finance ministers must not be allowed to idly rest on successes of the past, which were stepping stones towards a greater moment in history.

We carry the voices of millions who have been campaigning for decades on debt cancellation, more and better aid, trade justice, climate change and fundamental human rights. An overwhelming majority of German, French, British - and most recently Japanese - citizens have shown they want their elected governments to increase aid and put global poverty at the center of their agenda. Close to 90% of Japanese citizens agree that the government should keep its promises and take firm action to end poverty.

Debt cancellation is paramount to allow countries to prioritize feeding their people over making repayments, especially Haiti and Bangladesh, whose payments should be suspended immediately.

Poor countries need a guarantee that aid will not be slashed this weekend. Last year, we overseas aid fell by 14% from the G7. This means the 2005 Gleneagles promise to boost aid by US$50 billion by the year 2010 looks set to fall short by US$30 billion. That promise amounts to just 0.7% of Gross National Income – an amount that won’t break the G7 economies. Healthy budgets skewed towards military spending – more than 10 times what is spent on aid - are evidence enough that this let-down is not due to a lack of resources, but a mere lack of political will.

Successes show that aid works. Mechanisms to ensure access to healthcare and education are in place. The Global Fund on HIV, TB and Malaria has been a shining example, bringing relief to tens of millions worldwide. The Fast-track Initiative on Education has put children back into schools so they can look ahead to a brighter future.

Climate change is hitting the poor first and worst. Money to help poor countries adapt will be announced by some of the G8 Finance Ministers  - the UK, US and Japan - but it is going to be taken from existing aid budgets, and in the case of the Britain, will actually be loans. This should not be the case. Adaptation funding must be on top of promises made in aid. Failing to do this is an insult to the aspirations held at the beginning of the millennium and to the millions of people living in poverty.

At least US$50 billion is needed to help poor countries adapt to climate change. Much of this could be raised through new taxes on the industries that are polluting.  If every country in the EU auctioned 100 per cent of permits for the power sector, this measure alone could raise up to €20bn ($31bn) annually by 2020.

This is the kind of leadership the Finance Ministers can bring in 2008.

Poverty is man-made.  The G8 ministers represent a small corner of the world yet hold virtually all the power. We look to them this weekend to make man-made solutions.

Dr. Kumi Naidoo is Chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP)
on behalf of GCAP coalitions in G8 countries, GCAP Asia, GCAP Senca, GCAP Africa and GCAP Latin America and Caribbean.

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