GCAP - G8 - 2008

In this period of crisis and global emergency, we believe that G8 countries must take the responsibility of changing the stream of the current policies that we consider the causes of these crises. Particularly, the Italian Government, assuming the Presidency of G8 in 2009, must take the leadership of a political agenda that formulates concrete proposals for change.

The current food crisis is one of the symptoms of an incorrect performance of the global system. Recently, International Institutions such as FAO, WB and IMF, have recognised the rise in cereal prices as the main cause of the deepening poverty with the risk of a growing level of people suffering from hunger and consequently the risk of failing in achieving the 1st Millennium Development Goal.

The reasons behind the prices rising are mainly the financing of the agricultural products market and the rise in the energy costs whose effect is amplified by an energy intensive production model and by the reduction of surfaces dedicated to food plantations, in favour of the production of biofuels and cattle feed. The rise in the prices of agricultural products is not an expression of incapacity to produce the total food supply needed to satisfy the rise in global consumption, since even the latest FAO data show that we are able to satisfy the world food demand. Inadequate food access and poverty are increasing in western countries, despite the level of GNI, making certain the need for a more equal distribution of resources.

The alimentary emergency is going along with the climate emergency. The CO2 and GHG emissions, responsible for the climate change, have increased again and the estimation of effects realized by the IPCC asks for urgent measures to reduce drastically the emissions and to respect the limits of sustainability. This reduction must take into account that there is more than a billion people living below the subsistence level and excluded from the energetic consumption.

Social and environmental crises are strongly interconnected and show the limit of the current economic growth model. We are facing the challenge related to the survival of humankind in which we will have to choose between an equal and sustainable future or a dramatic decline.

In this framework, there is also the growth in migration flows, caused mainly by poverty conditions and increasingly by environmental causes related to climate change. The increasing wars and social conflicts for the control over natural resources have caused poverty and social exclusion with negative consequences on the respect of human rights.

The G8 countries along with the International Institutions must face the crises related to the current governance model, that is yet highly elitist and suffering legitimacy crisis. The will to extend the same governance model to the climate change issues, through the Major Economics Meeting on energy security, is another example of the attempt to decide global policies without taking into account the demands of the world citizens and the destiny of future generations.

The international financial crisis, the economic and environmental crises and their effects on the world economy have made more urgent to recover the role of politics with greater involvement and democratic control by people on the world governance.

Thus it is important that the G8 countries and Italy in particular work together to strengthen the role of democratic and participatory places such as the United Nations, so that this model becomes a base to think about a real democratisation of global governance in the economic and financial field as well, going beyond the weak changes of IMF and involving the international institutions on the whole in the process of democratisation. Only with a new democratic governance system we could work together to fight against poverty and to reach the Millennium Development Goals, ensuring to each individual the enjoyment of fundamental rights and the access to common goods.

The Italian Coalition against poverty considers necessary a commitment of the Italian Government to promote actions related not only to the global governance but even to climatic changes, finance for development and common goods in both the Japanese G8 and the next Italian G8.

Climate change

The Italian Coalition against poverty regards climate change as one of the main challenges that concern the survival of human civilisation placing it with dramatic clarity in front of the choice between an equal and sustainable future and attempts of abuse, in the prospect of a dramatic decline.

The Italian Government must:

• contribute to the achievement of a global agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which defines concrete goals for the reduction of GHG in the medium and long term;

• take actions in order to ensure G8 2009 will have a leadership role promoting the multilateral consultation process within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Alternative or/and national initiatives must not substitute multilateral process;

• commit to sign binding agreements to keep global warming at less than 2 degrees, keeping in mind that even a rise one tenth as great would have devastating dramatic consequences for millions of people, the most vulnerable countries, thousands of plants and animals and would place humankind closer to the tipping point. Gas emissions reduction must be implemented applying equity criteria;

• promote at national and international level, a coordinated action on adaptation to climate change, based on solidarity to developing countries.

Italian Coalition against poverty confirms that:

• sectional approach must be integrative to the reduction goals and cannot substitute national reduction targets, which are compulsory and absolute. It only can be used as an instrument to reach those national reduction goals;

• climate change adaptation and mitigation must have sustainable focus on conservative and restorative natural systems and not on environmentally-destructive infrastructure that risks to multiply the problems in the long term instead of solving them.

Financing for Development

Official Development Assistance

According to the annual UN report, World Economic Situation and Prospects 2007, donor countries’ aid performance shows a 10 billion negative flow to Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2005, G8 countries committed to increase aid, but aid data show that aid flows have continually decreased, and G8 volatility has been higher than other DAC donors.

The Italian government must ensure the required resources to increase the Official Development Assistance (ODA) according to international commitments, in particular:

• allocate additional aid resources in the current 2008 budget cycle, in order to reach the 0.33% GNI in 2008 and support ODA binding Agreements with partners countries in order to reduce aid volatility;

• ensure a better quality of aid by eliminating tied aid and by promoting the untying of technical assistance, increasing the portion of aid programs and promoting more coherent development policies, and coordinating its planning and monitoring the missions.

Innovative Sources of Financing for Development (Advance Market Commitments for Vaccines-AMC and International Finance Facility for Immunisation-IFFIm)

Since 2005, some G8 countries had promoted a series of pilot mechanisms to mobilise additional resources for development and to make Official Development Assistance flows more stable and predictable. Though these are pilot initiatives, that mobilise limited resources with their effectiveness to be still evaluated, they have established decennial finance commitments. So far these initiatives have overflowed the aid system with new financial resources increasing the transaction costs.

The Italian Coalition Against Poverty suggests the Italian Government to:

• actuate a monitoring process of the implementation and the effectiveness of innovative sources of financing for development, based on the predictability and stability of the financial resources and their transaction costs;

• promote the revision of the international criteria that will determine which expenditures are eligible to be counted as ODA, excluding the resources from innovative mechanisms to development allocated to reach the 0.7% of GNI;

• maintain its commitment to the AMC mechanism and ensure its cost effectiveness and equity, while providing additional resources for the prevention and treatment of HIV-AIDS and other pandemics.

Common Goods

Health and HIV

Health related themes and the fight against HIV/AIDS and other pandemics are significant components of the Millennium Development Goals.

Currently, the aid architecture in the health sector is fragmented and weak. In addition to the effective accomplishment of the commitments made by G8 governments, it is necessary to ensure a larger harmonisation, the support to coordinate initiatives such as the International Health Partnership and the adoption of an integrated approach to sustain both the fight against pandemics - that should continue to be supported by additional funds – and the strengthening of national health systems.

The Italian Coalition Against Poverty suggests the Italian Government to:

• grant in the coming years and in particular in the G8 2009 agenda, a stable presence of global health issues, such as the fight against pandemics and the strengthening of national health systems;

• create an independent monitoring system capable of measuring progress in the health agenda;

• design concrete plans to invest $60 billion of additional funds promised in Heiligendamm to fight AIDS, TB, Malaria and to strengthen health systems – so that the Global Fund has a platform of $6/8 million a year to fight pandemics and strengthen national health systems;

• design a concrete action plan to support national health systems
  • that have been designed by the beneficiaries with the involvement of the civil society and local communities;
  • that provide a human resources plan in line with the Kampala Declaration;
  • that predict the fight against the pandemics;

• define a long-term national plan for the fight against pandemics, for the strengthening of health systems and for universal access to AIDS treatment by 2010. The plan should receive adequate funds – at least $400 million for ten years, as was agreed at the 2007 G8 – and include clear policies on access to lifesaving therapies, the promotion of generic medicines and on technology transfers for manufacturing these medicines in developing countries;

• to implement and promote policies to make G8 countries more and more self sufficient concerning their health system human resources’ needs, so to limit the brain drain in the health sector from developing to industrialised countries;

• to promote, since the beginning of its G8 Presidency in July 2008, the principle of debt cancellation/conversion for countries with a high HIV-AIDS prevalence and cancel Swaziland’s debt as per art. 5 of Italian law 209/2000, through clear agreements that guarantee the reinvestment of resources into strengthening health systems.

Education

Education is a human right, sanctioned by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The achievement of universal basic education is also the second of the Millennium Development Goals.

Although some progress has been done to achieve this goal, there are still 72 million children without schooling, more than half of them live in conflict or post-conflict situations, and 3/5 are girls.

Half of the children enrolled in school, interrupted their studies because of the low education quality and the economic problems; higher education is denied to one hundred million boys and girls and there also 781 million adults lack minimum literacy.

Education has great positive effects on the achievement of all eight Millennium Development Goals.

The Italian Coalition Against Poverty suggests the Italian Government to:

• demonstrate its commitment in financing access to Universal Primary Education and to achieve the estimated annual $11 billion funding level, considered necessary to support UNESCO and World Bank Education initiatives and particularly to reach EFA-FTI. In this regard, we will strive to fully finance the national education plans of all countries endorsed by 2008, and to achieve new and reinforced approaches to sustainable funding via partnerships between government, industry and civil society

• renew its commitment to the Millennium Development Goal of Universal Primary Education and gender equality at all levels of education, and resolve to help countries, with increased attention to fragile and conflict affected states, achieve the goals of the Education for All agenda;

• promote a new G8 commitment to ensure that education is an integral part of humanitarian responses to conflict and emergencies, complying with the Minimum Standard for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction, and that long-term predictable aid for basic education in conflict-affected fragile states is increased.

In conclusion, the civil society organisations part of the Italian Coalition Against Poverty call on the Italian Government and the G8 countries, in particular on the occasion of the G8 2009, to respect the commitments taken at the international level and to strength the international credibility in establishing policies regarding the fight against poverty, climate change and the research of the solutions to the problems in the agenda aimed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Document prepared by:
Associazione ONG Italiane
With the valuable contribution of:
ActionAid International, Amref, Campagna delle Nazioni Unite per gli Obiettivi del Millennio, Campagna Riforma Banca Mondiale, Intervita, Legambiente, Osservatorio Italiano sull'Azione Globale contro l'AIDS, Oxfam International e Ucodep, T.O.D.E.S.Y., Save the Children Italia, Volontari nel mondo - Focsiv, WWF Italia