Save the Earth and Free the People

Posted on 09/02/2012 by kevindancecp

The Commission for Social Development continues its work. Its priority theme is “Poverty Eradication”. Today we cannot think of eradicating poverty in our world if we ignore the impact of climate change on our efforts to lift people out of poverty. Where will the money come from?

Last week we had a fascinating event “Poverty and Climate Change: Lives in the Balance.” We were reminded that climate change affects all aspects of development – environmental, social and economic. The two greatest challenges facing our generation are how to lift up people trapped in poverty and how to stabilize Earth’s climate. Climate change is a fact. There is no way to stop it. What we can, and must do, is adapt to it and make every effort to lessen the disastrous effects it has and will continue to have on the world’s most vulnerable populations.

As always, women and children make up a majority of people living in poverty. Rural women are the backbone of agriculture in the developing world. They save the seeds, plant, harvest and market the produce. It is estimated that they are responsible for approximately one-half of the world’s food supply. But the traditional weather patterns they have come to rely on have been disastrously altered.

Stories from different countries underlined the disastrous impact of climate change. Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur from the Democratic Republic of Congo said they could always rely on a nine-month rainy season, followed by three dry months. Now the rainfall is uncertain; harvesting is unpredictable. “In Kenya, each year the rains would arrive in November… but, no more.” The Ambassador of the Maldives, a nation of 1,190 coral islands in the Indian Ocean, said climate change threatens his nation’s existence. The Maldives depend upon imported food. As climate change impacts food production, and prices begin to soar, the food security of the Maldivians will be at risk.

Last year the Pontifical Justice and Peace Council issued a statement urging major economic reform entitled “Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority.” One of its recommendations calls for the taxing of financial transactions. “Such taxation would be very useful in promoting global development and sustainability according to the principles of social justice and solidarity.”

The NGO Committee for Social Development, with civil society organizations worldwide, is advocating for a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). This would be a small tax (e.g. 0.05 percent) on all financial market transactions. When we ordinary mortals make a purchase, we pay a tax on the amount. Meanwhile, billions of dollars are bought and sold each and every day in the world’s financial centres and stock exchanges. These are completely tax-free and make the rich ever-richer. It’s time to end the free ride for the speculators!

Many economists see a Financial Transaction Tax as an innovative source of financing for development, and a practical way to help developing countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals, eradicate poverty, protect the environment and shape development that can be sustained. It would also help to reduce the destabilizing effects of downturns in the financial markets, reduce speculative trading and the wild fluctuations of asset prices in stock markets as well as in commodity prices. Over the long term, a Financial Transaction Tax could become a steady, predictable funding stream for poverty eradication.

Another potential source of funding is a reduction in current levels of military spending. In the wake of the global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009, public spending on social development shrank, but military spending increased. To achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals it would cost US$329 billion each year – a mere 20 percent spent of the world’s spending on military each year.

In 1967, Pope Paul VI suggested that a portion of global military budgets be channeled into a global humanitarian fund for development. He told us that “development is the new name for peace.” Imagine what the world would be like today if his advice had been heeded? There can be no serious commitment to poverty eradication without addressing this issue.

The outcome document currently under negotiation by the countries that make up the Commission for Social Development makes no mention of reducing military budgets, nor does it consider any concrete proposals to finance efforts aimed at poverty eradication. The one mention of climate change in the document is strongly opposed by the United States.

I offer you a very simple way to join your voice to ours in our advocacy efforts. I encourage you to sign the online petition for the Social Protection Floor Campaign, and pass it on to your friends and associates. For more information on the Social Protection Floor, click here.

Do we have a Future?

Posted on 20/01/2012 by kevindancecp

The number of people in the United States who deny that human behaviour has any effect on climate change has grown alarmingly in the past two years. It shows what money, vested interests and false advertising can do! Awareness of climate change keeps on growing in the rest of the world.

“We’re facing a planetary emergency” says Owen Gaffney of International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme

The frequent news reports with pictures of people whose lives are torn apart make it hard to avoid the reality. Deadly and violent weather – floods, earthquakes, mudslides, forest fires, hurricanes and the sinister rising of sea levels force us to take the warnings seriously, rather than dismiss or play them down as in the recent past.

Elimar Pinheiro do Nascimento, director of the University of Brasilia Sustainable Development Centre, states: “Democratic regimes don’t appear to be capable of adequately addressing the issue of climate change, because of the short-term political dynamic, since environmental problems take decades to solve. Democracy is about freedom, and protecting the environment is about survival.”

Our democratically elected governments cannot see beyond their own noses, or not beyond the next time they must face their electors. So where does that leave us?

In financial crises, specialist economists shape the decisions that governments make. Central banks can adopt often unpopular monetary measures, even despite pressure from national governments. But in this deeper crisis which threatens the future of our entire planet, we don’t see environmentalists and climate experts called in to advise on what action should be taken.

If we are to have a future we will need statespersons, not bureaucrats. But dare we hope for leaders to emerge who are able to withstand the pressure from corporate driven political decisions, to ensure our survival?

We must find new mechanisms to create policies with a long-term focus to solve our environmental problems.

Prior to Rio+20, the world’s scientific community will give a comprehensive “state of the planet” assessment at the “Planet Under Pressure” conference in London Mar. 26-29. Nearly 3,000 experts from around the world will provide a report card on the health and threats to the Earth and make recommendations on what must be done to avoid disaster.

One of the first things a maturing human community must do is solve its international governance problems. Thirty leading experts on international governance are unanimous regarding the failure of the current United Nations approach of one country, one vote and the requirement of consensus before taking action or making significant decisions. ”One country can hold the entire world hostage.”

The Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer is considered the world’s most successful environmental treaty. It doesn’t use the traditional U.N. system. Decisions are made only when the majority of both the industrialised and developing nations agree. The U.N. climate negotiations need such a decision making process.

Maurice Strong who led the Rio 1992 Earth Summit had this to say: “We must rise above the lesser concerns that preempt our attention and respond to the reality that the future of human life on Earth depends on what we do, or fail to do in this generation. What we have come to accept as normal is not normal…

We must deal with this as the most dangerous security issue humanity has ever faced, with the very conditions necessary to life on Earth at risk.

Rio+20 will require a degree of cooperation beyond anything we have yet experienced at a time when competition and conflict over scare resources is escalating….The decisions and policies which determine our impacts on sustainability are primarily motivated by economic and financial considerations. The importance of the actions to be taken at Rio + 20 requires that they be firmly rooted in our deepest moral and ethical principles. – UN General Assembly Rio +20 Event, New York, October 25th, 2011.

The world has seen major changes since 1992. Today more and more people think of themselves as ‘global or planetary citizens’. With knowledge comes responsibility. Remember, there is a voice that is stronger than the power of money or the force of corporations! That is the voice of truth and moral decency.
Rio + 20 will need all the prayer and our best efforts if it is to succeed in avoiding disaster for the earth and all who call the Earth “home”.

It’s time to speak up and let our governments know what we expect of them to prevent the threat of global disaster. Tell them not to play politics in Rio. Tell them to remember that we have only one planet and we are all involved! It’s time for us to speak up!

Passionists International hopes to have a significant presence in Rio.

Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.

Kevin Dance, C.P.

En un mundo incierto

Link

En un mundo incierto

Rio +20: the future we want

Posted on 19/12/2011 by kevindancecp

Imagine your world 20 years from now

What do you dream of for you, your family and your community? What would life look like if you could design it?

We all have dreams and aspirations and ideas to make the world better. We believe there is enormous power in the sharing of those ideas. The Future We Want is a global conversation to build the future through a positive vision for tomorrow.

Join the dialogue by visiting the new UN website

http://www.un.org/en/sustainablefuture/

Civil society call for UN experts panel

Link

Civil society call for UN experts panel

“The reform of the international monetary and financial system and its implications for development”

Posted on 19/12/2011 by kevindancecp

Statement made by the NGO Committee on Financing for Development

I represent the NGO Committee on Financing for Development. We place emphasis on “development” that is people-centred and pro-poor. We have members of our organizations in almost all countries of the world. As part of a global network we are concerned with economic justice. The message we hear from the ground is ‘we are in a dangerous situation´

As NGOs, part of civil society – the “We the Peoples” of the UN Charter – believe the United Nations must play a strong role in building a new future for an increasingly interconnected world.

The vision that brought this organization to birth was of a safe and secure world where all people could experience a modest level of prosperity where their basic rights would be protected and promoted. The 3 pillars of the UN – security, development, and respect for human rights of all, are presently at risk.

This vision of a more equal and safer world is slipping away as rampant inequality divides us. The place of the UN in the world’s economic wellbeing is at risk.

The OECD report “Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising” shows the gap between rich and poor in OECD countries is at its highest level for over 30 years, in the US, for almost a century. This is true of almost all countries. Secretary-General Angel Gurría, launching the report, said “The social contract is starting to unravel in many countries. This study dispels the assumptions that the benefits of economic growth will automatically trickle down to the disadvantaged and that greater inequality fosters greater social mobility. Without a comprehensive strategy for inclusive growth, inequality will continue to rise.”

Despite numerous calls to recover the vision and the continuing validity of the principles of Monterrey and Doha, the reality seems to be different. The rhetoric that some institutions are “too big to fail” suggests underlying acceptance that inequality is natural and normal. We strongly challenge this paradigm. We need a new paradigm that recognizes the equal dignity of all people, elaborated within a human rights framework that is participative, and speaks to the real world we inhabit in an integrating manner. We call all member States of the UN to restore this organization to its proper place as the forum where real debate happens on how we can actually integrate all the policies needed to shape economic, human/social wellbeing and environmental protection.

Most global economic policies are formulated and implemented in groups operating independently of the UN, such as the G20, the Bretton Woods institutions. This is not how the global system was visualized over half a century ago. The UN is increasingly marginalized as such decisions are made elsewhere. The level of representation at this High Level Dialogue seems to bear this out! We NGOs are deeply disappointed that it does not seem to be taken very seriously by you, Member States. ECOSOC deliberations and UN review meetings rarely attract the same level of presence by senior officials from finance, trade and economic ministries as do meetings of the BWI or WTO. Despite repeated statements calling for strengthening within the UN of the FfD follow-up mechanism, many influential Member States seem keen to promote coordination through such other groupings as the G20, where they have greater influence.

In a world that calls for coherence, the social impact and the equity issues are notable by their absence in diagnosing the current problem or creating policy to address the crisis. “Austerity measures” announced by many countries have led to savage reductions in “social spending” and fly in the face of strong consensus that increased public spending in a time of economic crisis, is needed to create a counter-cyclical direction for the economy. The very term ‘social’ is made to sound like a luxury that can’t be afforded at present, rather than an essential tool to create jobs as integral to addressing the crisis. Segmentation and compartmentalising have blocked an effective and integrated way forward. Social/ equity dimensions are not optional extras, but essential pieces if an enduring solution is to emerge.

Social inclusion can no longer be seen as extraneous to building a functioning global economic system. They can no longer be left to be treated in another forum well isolated from financial and economic concerns. Issues of job creation and the provision of a social protection floor, not only make for more harmonious societies, but they also make for good investment and economic sense.

We strongly recommend that the General Assembly:

Start an open and truly inclusive dialogue on strengthening the international economic and financial system and architecture.
Hold a review conference on financing for development in 2013 that addresses the democratic deficit in the international financial architecture and that deals with the impact of the world financial crises on the financing of development.
Acknowledge the changed reality of the world by strengthening UN engagement with civil society and other non-state actors through multi-stakeholder forums and other informal FfD initiatives.
Make better use of the special high-level ECOSOC meetings with the BWI, WTO and UNCTAD to enable more focused dialogue, with discussions that are outcome oriented.
Establish an adhoc panel of experts of the world economic and financial crisis and its impact on development.
We support the call of Barbados to replace the International Committee of Tax Experts with a UN intergovernmental body. This is vital if information on tax avoidance and tax evasion is to be shared among countries and so build tax systems needed to promote development.
Establish a Financing for Development Committee that is representative and multi-stakeholder in order to effectively oversee the implementation of the Monterrey and Doha commitments.
It is time to revisit and act on the idea of a Global Economic Coordination Council. This would be a small body with representation based on a constituency system. Sectional interests must be put aside in favour of the common good of us all. Inclusion is the catchcry of the many protest movements. It must also apply to the multilateral system. A more robust UN system able to offer effective oversight of policies affecting us all is long overdue.
Listen to the call from Africa to be fully included in the economic decision-making processes. We suggest that the motto of the UN could be “Nothing about us, without us!”

The agenda of Monterrey remains unfinished. We must rebuild momentum for the needed political will to act multilaterally once more.

Thank you Madame Chair
Kevin Dance, C.P., Passionists International
Chair, NGO Committee on Financing for Development

Social investments deserve priority in economic recovery schemes

Posted on 19/12/2011 by kevindancecp

The Report on the World Social Situation 2011: The Global Social Crisis, produced by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) of the United Nations, explores the ongoing adverse social consequences of the 2008-2009 financial and economic crisis – the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

One consequence of the crisis is that unemployment rose sharply to 205 million people in 2009 from 178 million in 2007. The loss of jobs means not only a loss of incomes but also an increase in vulnerability, especially in developing countries without comprehensive social protection, notes the report.

Various estimates suggest that between 47 million and 84 million more people fell into, or were trapped in, extreme poverty because of the global crisis, which occurred immediately after food and fuel prices had risen sharply. So we have over a billion people living in hunger in the world, the highest on record.

The report states that the global economic downturn has had wide-ranging negative social outcomes for individuals, families, communities and societies, and its impact on social progress in areas such as education and health will only become fully evident over time.

“The increased levels of poverty, hunger and unemployment due to the global crisis will continue to affect billions of people in many developed and developing countries for years to come,” the report says.

It is essential that governments take into account the likely social implications of their economic policies. When economic policies are decided in isolation from their social outcomes there can be dire consequences for poverty, employment, nutrition, health and education.

“There is renewed realization that social policy considerations, especially productive employment, must be given greater importance within economic policy,” said Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development. “Thedisconnect between economic policies and their social consequences can create a vicious cycle of slow growth and poor social progress.”

The economic crisis is a reminder that it is essential for people to be healthy, educated, with adequate housing and well fed if they are to be more productive and better able to contribute to society.

Whether we focus on climate change, or we work to wipe out the scourge of poverty, or we give our attention to protecting the human rights of the most abused and vulnerabl

United Nations Conference on Climate Change, Durban, South Africa,

Posted on 29/11/2011 by admin

The United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change began yesterday, November 28th 2011 in Durban, South Africa. Nearly 10,000 people are expected to attend the conference which will continue until December 7th 2011. Those attending include representatives of the world’s governments, international organizations and civil society. The discussions will seek to advance, in a balanced fashion, the implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, as well as the Bali Action Plan, agreed at COP 13 in 2007, and the Cancun Agreements, reached at the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. (COP 16) last December.

Almost two decades ago, countries joined an international treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to cooperatively consider what they could do to limit average global temperature increases and the resulting climate change, and to cope with whatever impacts were, by then, inevitable. This was in 1992.

By 1995, countries realized that emission reductions provisions in the Convention were inadequate. They launched negotiations to strengthen the global response to climate change, and, two years later, adopted the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol legally binds developed countries to emission reduction targets. The Protocol’s first commitment period started in 2008 and ends in 2012.

What happens beyond 2012 is one of the key issues governments of the 195 Parties to the Convention are currently negotiating. Climate change is a complex problem, which, although environmental in nature, has consequences for all spheres of existence on our planet. It either impacts on– or is impacted by– global issues, including poverty, economic development, population growth, sustainable development and resource management. It is not surprising, then, that solutions come from all disciplines and fields of research and development.

Important in this world conversation is the crisis in Africa with extreme heat and drought, issues of small island states disappearing into deep waters and shifts in extreme weather patterns throughout the world. At the very heart of the response to climate change, however, lies the need to reduce emissions. In 2010, governments agreed that emissions need to be reduced so that global temperature increases are limited to below 2 degrees Celsius.

The human-caused global-warming trend of climate change is scientifically established. Human beings are not distinct from nature, but are part of nature, and are now affecting nature in an alarmingly negative way. Impacts from global warming are now being felt and will soon become far worse. All countries will be increasingly affected in a myriad of severe, adverse ways: economically, environmentally, militarily, politically, medically, and psychologically. Global stability is threatened. There is no safe haven.

Action

Write to your country’s representative at Durban:

Canada: Peter Kent, Environmental Minister; email: minister@ec.gc.ca

United States: Todd Stern, Special Envoy for Climate Change; go to US.state.gov, go to contact-us and email your comment addressing Mr. Stern.

Sample Email Letter:

Dear ______

I am very concerned about Climate Change and how our country is contributing to Global Warming. With many other colleagues, I highly recommend that you support the following important issues in the concluding document at Durban:

Recognize that unmitigated global warming will produce widespread conflicts over food, water and resources, with consequent population displacements and other devastating effects.
Adopt fair, ambitious, binding verifiable accords at by reducing greenhouse gas emissions to achieve sustainable safe cumulative levels, incorporating equitably differentiated responsibilities for developed and developing countries, and substantial penalties for excessive emissions.
Adopt and implement adequate, equitable, and binding financial and technical commitments by developed countries to developing countries for mitigation and adaptation, with effective and gender-sensitive distribution of aid, and joint cooperative responsibility. Priority goals are:

Security (peace and avoiding armed conflicts, avoiding mass migrations),
Social Justice, Intergenerational Equity, and Environment Preservation (achieving Millennium Development Goals with food, water, and energy security; sustainable economic development; extra support for women and children; education on climate change and environment to inform and change behavior; public health; mental health; gender-balanced; support for small farmers and non-intensive agriculture; rights of island and coastal peoples; sustainable forestry; conservation; humane treatment of animals, avoiding species extinction, maintaining biodiversity).

Sincerely,

___

Resources:

Adapted from UN resources, UN NGO Committee on Sustainable Development and Sean McDonagh, SSC’s first article on Durban.

www.unfccc.int

www.trunity.net

Pope Benedict Calls for “Credible” Action at Durban Talks to Address “Disturbing” Climate Change (thinkprogress.org)

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Posted on 15/10/2011 by kevindancecp

17 October 2011

Theme – From Poverty to Sustainability: People at the Centre of Inclusive Development

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year since 1993, when the General Assembly, by resolution 47/196, designated this day to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries, particularly in developing countries – a need that has become a development priority.

At the Millennium Summit, world leaders committed themselves to cutting by half by the year 2015 the number of people living in extreme poverty – people whose income is less than one dollar a day.

17 October presents an opportunity to acknowledge the effort and struggle of people living in poverty, a chance for them to make their concerns heard, and a moment to recognize that poor people are the first ones to fight against poverty. Participation of the poor themselves has been at the center of the Day’s celebration since its very beginning. The commemoration of 17 October also reflects the willingness of people living in poverty to use their expertise to contribute to the eradication of poverty.

The 2011 Commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP) will be held on Monday, 17 October, at United Nations Headquarters in New York, focusing on the theme “From Poverty to Sustainability: People at the Centre of Inclusive Development“.

With global attention focused on the upcoming Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), it is critical to draw attention to the importance of poverty eradication for building sustainable futures for all. People living in poverty face increasingly difficult challenges as climate change, environmental degradation and rising food prices threaten their livelihoods and survival. The path to sustainable development must ensure that people living in poverty are included in decision-making processes, and that concrete action is taken to respond to their needs and demands.

Sustainable development is not only about a clean planet. It means ensuring that nobody is left behind. Only in this way can peace be brought about and development be truly sustainable.

International Day for Eradication of Poverty Prayer 2011

Message 2011 from the International Committee for October 17

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