EU creates alliance on climate change

The European Commission is proposing to build a new alliance on climate change between the European Union and the poor developing countries that are most affected and that have the least capacity to deal with climate change. Through this Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA), the EU and these countries will work jointly to integrate climate change into poverty reduction strategies.

The EU will provide substantial resources to address climate change in these countries. Measures will include better preparedness for natural disasters which are expected to become more frequent and intense through global warming. The GCCA renews the commitment of the EU Action Plan on Climate Change and Development to systematically integrate climate change into development cooperation.

Developing countries will be the hardest hit by the effects of climate change and therefore need our help to mitigate climate change and to adapt to the changes already occuring. New technology is only one way of developing towards a sustainable society without hampering development and quality of life. This communication, presented by Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel in association with Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas and External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, aims to provide for a broader range of actions through dialogue and exchange as well as practical cooperation between EU and the developing countries.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that most regions in the world, and especially those in the developing world, will be increasingly affected by climate change. Poor developing countries, and in particular the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) will be among the countries hit earliest and hardest.

The EU has a leadership role in promoting international action to tackle climate change. The Spring Council 2007 put forward concrete proposals for a post-2012 international climate change agreement, and committed to significant cuts in the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. The Global Climate Change Alliance will be an important pillar of the EU’s external action on climate change, reaching out to the countries least responsible for, but most affected by global warming.

Assistance provided under the Global Climate Change Alliance is proposed to focus on five areas: implementing concrete adaptation measures; reducing emissions from deforestation; helping poor countries take advantage from the global carbon market; helping poor countries to be better prepared for natural disasters, and integrating climate change into development cooperation and poverty reduction strategies. As Climate change affects many sectors, it needs to be integrated into poverty reduction efforts in order to ensure sustainability. Systematic climate risk assessment and mainstreaming of climate change into development strategies and programmes (“climate proofing”) are imperative in this regard.

The Commission already earmarked €50 million to the GCCA over the period 2008-10. But substantially more resources are needed to provide a response that adequately responds to the needs. Therefore an appeal is made to the EU Member States to dedicate part of their agreed commitments to increase Official Development Assistance over the coming years to the cause of coping with climate change in the most vulnerable countries.

The first occasion to discuss the Alliance with developing country partners will be the European Development Days held in Lisbon from 7th to 9th November and focusing on climate change and development.

Over the past years the link between climate change and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events became amply clear. Seven of the ten deadliest disasters of the last 20 years have occurred between 2000 and 2006. Only since July 2007, the European Commission has provided €24.5 million to the victims of natural disasters in Colombia, Caribbean, Peru, Kenya, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, North Korea and the Sudan. The Global Climate Change Alliance aims to assist the most vulnerable countries in the prevention of and their preparedness for natural disasters.

Sweden wins bid for 2010 World Summit on Media for Children

The 6th World Summit on Media for Children will be held in June 2010 in the city of Karlstad, Sweden.

The World Summit on Media for Children Foundation (WSMCF) announced today that the bid led by Director Per Lundgren on behalf of the City and University of Karlstad, Sweden had been successful in the contest to hold the next World Summit, supported by worldwide media organisations.

“Director Per Lundgren and his partners proposed a compelling and forward-thinking proposal. The 2010 Summit will be a seminal event.” said Dr Patricia Edgar AM, Chair of the WSMCF from Melbourne, Australia. “The world we live in is changing rapidly. Children are citizens of the world. All media platforms for them should have a depth and focus of educational commitment. Children are forging changes in the new media landscape as education and media production for them are being transformed by new technology The new media context for children requires risk taking both on the part of producers who should test new boundaries and on the part of educators guiding the young. As world leaders in children’s well-being1, Scandinavia will provide an ideal context for such initiatives”

The Summit Movement works to ensure the needs of children are met as an audience and as participants in media production. World Summits are held every three years and attended by media, technology, policy and education professionals dedicated to children’s services. Each Summit provides a unique and fertile environment for global networking and the sharing of ideas and information. World Summits which involve young people and adults are catalysts for communication, collaboration and international exchange.

Previous World Summits have been held in Melbourne (1995), London (1998), Thessaloniki (2001), Rio de Janeiro (2004) and Johannesburg (2007), supplemented by Regional Summits held in The Philippines (1996) and North America (2000).

“It’s both a pleasure and an honour for us to bring together media players from all over the world to a global agenda on creativity, critical thinking skills, quality in media and cultural diversity in Karlstad, Sweden” said Per Lundgren. “We look forward to welcoming the world to Karlstad”

EU/Africa summit in december

The Joint EU-Africa Strategy is planned to be adopted at the Lisbon Summit. It is the second ever Summit between heads of state and government from EU and Africa and is planned to be held in Lisbon on 8-9 December, 2007. The first summit was held in Cairo in 2000.

The European Union and the African Union have in the past years strengthened their relations and participated in a structured dialogue since the first EU-African Summit in Cairo in 2000. Africa is a priority of the European Union as stated in the EU strategy for Africa adopted in December 2005 by the European Council and now both continents are heading towards a second EU-Africa Summit that should take place in Lisbon at the end of 2007.

The European Union and the African Union have thus decided to further strengthen the ties linking both continents by developing a co-owned ‘joint strategy’ which reflects the needs and aspirations of the peoples of Africa and Europe. The purpose of this joint strategy is to develop a political vision and practical approaches for the future partnership between the EU and Africa, based on mutual respect, common interests and the principle of ownership.

A public consultation was launched by the African Union Commission and the European Commission at the beginning of February. The aim was to gather civil society recommendations on the joint EU-Africa Strategy to be approved at the planned EU-Africa Summit in December 2007. The first phase of this consultation lasted until the end of April, with the approval of an outline of the future joint Strategy on 15 May by the joint EU-Africa Ministerial Troika Meeting.

The first phase of the consultation was mainly carried out through an Internet consultation on this website, open to all Europeans and Africans. It also comprised a seminar organised by the African Union Commission (AUC) for a number of representatives of African civil society in Accra, Ghana, on 26-28 March and a conference co-organised by VENRO and ECDPM in Bad Honnef, Germany, on 23-24 April.

In the second phase, ECDPM will focus on sharing information on the official negotiations, on related events and positions of civil society representatives as well as provide some analysis on the progress of the negotiations. The website will thus be more geared towards information sharing than towards moderating on-line discussions as was the case with the Internet consultation until May 2007. Contributions and position papers will be published, and shared with the officials and all interested actors.

MORE INFORMATION
http://www.europaafrica.org

Ireland on the way toward “0,7 percent” taget

Ireland spent some €814 million last year on overseas development aid to support projects in more than 90 countries, a report published today said.

Minister of State for Overseas Development Michael Kitt published the Irish Aid annual report for 2006, which also reveals that the State gave €100 million to 40 countries to assist them after natural disasters or humanitarian crises.

Mr Kitt said that spending more than 0.5 per cent of GNP on overseas aid last year places Ireland on course to reach the UN target of spending 0.7 per cent of GNP on overseas aid by 2012.

The new Swedish development aid focus

 The work against poverty in Africa will be the focus of the Swedish development aid. Focuses will the stronger on reform work in Eastern Europe, on peace/security, democracy and human rights.

- The focus will be on Africa where the needs are the highest, says the Swedish minister of development aid, Gunnilla Carlsson.

The focus will be on 30 countries:

Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Bolivia will get a long-term bilateral support.

Burundi, Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Eastern Timor, Iraq, Palestine, Colombia and Guatemala will get a conflict support to build poverty reduction and a peace process.

Albania, Bosnia, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine will get support from the Eastern Europe division.

The Director of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Göran Holmqvist, welcomes the initiative.

- Sida welcomes the Government’s work to reduce the number of countries in which we have development cooperation. For a long time we have communicated to the Government the need to make development cooperation more effective.

Stop Donegal International

‘Vulture fund’ Donegal International has been suing Zambia for a staggering $55 million off the back of $3.3 million of ‘bad’ debt! Thankfully their award was reduced to $15 million, but that’s still rich pickings from a poor country where people live on less than $1 a day.

Donegal International may claim a partial victory in court, but there’s an overwhelming moral case to answer. Oxfam, together with the Jubilee Debt Campaign, is calling on Michael Sheehan, the man behind Donegal to do the right thing, and not make Zambia pay up. You can make a difference – join our call.”

If Zambia needs to pay this money, they will have to take away free education for 30 000 children and medical treatment for another 100 000 people, and instead give this money to a private company and their already rich shareholders.

Read more about the issue here.

Sweden change direction in development aid policy

Sweden is one of the five countries in the world who makes the promise of 0,7 percent of GDP to development aid. Since the new government came into power in 2006 many have expected to see changes in the development aid policy.

In next week, the Swedish government will present their new strategy, and go from around 70 receives to 30, and follow the Paris Declaration to focus the aid into a few areas of interest.

The process to build a new strategy have been kept hidden from both the parliament and the development organization, and many parliamentarians and aid workers are today critical about the secrecy.

The new government with the Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has commented that they’re going to cut the aid budget.

The strategy will be out during next week.