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	G20 don"t ignore development agenda by Reuters & agencies   Nov 2011   The G20 must tackle climate change, by Mary Robinson.   Action cannot be put off until the economic storm has passed. The poor countries most vulnerable to the extreme weather associated with climate change need help now.   The economic crisis has done little to sharpen the pressure for action to tackle climate change. Banking collapses, austerity programmes and social unrest have for the most part knocked climate change from newspaper front pages.   Action cannot be put off until the economic storm has passed. As Sir Nicholas Stern"s report pointed out, unchecked climate change could reduce global output by up to 20%. This would dwarf our current troubles – European output, for example, fell by 4.3% in 2009 but recovered 1.9% last year.   The poor countries most vulnerable to the floods, droughts, storms and other extreme weather associated with climate change need help now. The current famine in the Horn of Africa, where at least three-quarters of a million people are at risk of starvation, and the flooding across south Asia affecting more than 18 million people are just two examples of the sort of humanitarian emergencies already becoming more common.   It is rich countries whose emissions are overwhelmingly responsible for climate change. They have promised $100bn annually to help poor countries cope and to reduce their own emissions. But the fund agreed last year in Cancún has yet to be activated and no deal has been done to scale-up finance to those levels.   Developing countries want those resources to come from developed countries national budgets. Certainly, national budget contributions must lay the foundation of the $100bn, but in the current fiscal climate the temptation to simply relabel old promises of development aid may be too great for finance ministers to resist. Climate change is a new crisis demanding new resources, not old wine in new bottles.   Equally, it is not and should not be up to the G20 alone to come up with a climate deal – that needs to happen in UN negotiations where poor countries have a seat at the table. But there is a chance that the G20, with the help of Bill Gates, could break the deadlock. His report on innovative financing for development, presented to leaders in Cannes, proposes two ways developed countries can raise the new revenues needed.   The first is a charge on the unregulated, high and rising carbon emissions from shipping and aviation. Both sectors must play their part in the fight against climate change, but in the near term, there is a particular opportunity for progress on pricing the emissions from ships – already responsible for more carbon pollution each year than Germany.   Oxfam and WWF have calculated that a moderate carbon price of $25 per tonne would generate $25bn per year by 2020, while raising the cost of global trade by less than $2 for every $1,000 traded.   To ensure poor countries are not unfairly hit, some revenue should be used to compensate them for the marginally higher import costs that may result. Of the rest, at least $10bn per year could go to the new Green Climate Fund. A shipping carbon charge would strengthen the case for similar measures on aviation.   A joint statement by the finance ministers of France and South Africa last month named shipping and aviation taxes as one of the building blocks of a potential deal when UN negotiations resume in Durban this month. The statement also set out the two countries "strong support" for the other opportunity presented by Gates"s report: financial transaction taxes (FTTs).   Dubbed Robin Hood taxes by campaigners, these involve a tiny levy on transactions of banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions. The taxes would raise tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars a year. As well as fighting climate change in poor countries, revenue could also help the tens of millions of people worldwide pushed into extreme poverty by the economic crisis, and to protect the services and safety nets on which many poor people in developed and developing countries rely.   In addition to France and South Africa, FTTs are publicly backed by Germany, Spain, the European commission, Argentina and a number of countries outside the G20. Although opposition from the US in particular makes global agreement unlikely, that should not prevent progress.   Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to create a coalition of willing countries to press ahead with FTTs and raise funds for fighting climate change and for development. A thousand economists – including Nobel prize-winners – have written to G20 leaders urging them to be a part of this initiative.   The IMF has warned the G20 that as a result of its exemption from value-added taxes, "the financial sector may be under-taxed and hence perhaps too big". If this is true, then increasing taxes on the sector would help to rebalance the global economy and encourage future growth.   The political case for action is also strong. Polls show people want politicians to rein in banks bonus culture and make the financial sector pay its fair share and contribute to cleaning up the economic crisis it helped to cause. The spread of Occupy Wall Street type protests around the world shows the anger that is bubbling under the surface.   28 Oct 2011   Concern that G20 will avoid pressing, much needed decisions on food security and institute a financial transactions tax to raise international development funding.   Global development groups have called on G20 leaders to step up to their commitments to tackle global food security and come up with new ways to boost world growth that benefits the poorest at the G20 summit on Nov. 3-4 in Cannes, France.   There is widespread concern that the leaders will avoid firm decisions needed to address high global food prices and new ways to finance development.   "The challenge for the G20 is can they see what is needed to ensure broader prosperity," said Samuel Worthington who heads InterAction, an alliance of U.S. based international development groups.   French President Nicholas Sarkozy has called for progress to address rising food prices. He asked billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates to come up with innovative ways to raise resources for poor countries.   The Gates report calls for taxing financial transactions, tobacco, shipping and aviation fuels to raise new sources of aid, according to a draft of the proposals obtained by Reuters.   The financial transaction tax is currently opposed by Canada, Britain, the United States, Australia and China because it purportedly puts a minute burden on banks. France, Germany, Holland, South Africa and Austria to name just a few countries support it.   In the draft, Gates suggests that even a small tax of 10 basis points on equities and 2 basis points on bonds would raise about $48 billion among G20 members.   "We sincerely hope that this is something the G20 takes up seriously and the U.S. at least stops opposing and at best gets behind it in order to address some of the global economic challenges we"re facing," Paul O"Brien, vice president for policy and campaigns at Oxfam America, told reporters.   O"Brien said the G20 agreed on the need to boost growth but the process was hampered by an unwillingness by both advanced and emerging economies to commit to new initiatives to create lasting economic growth.   "If they come out of Cannes with yet another internal discussion and nothing conclusive on institutions or financing, how many more G20"s are we going to wait" he said.   Neil Watkins, director of policy and campaigns at ActionAid USA, acknowledged he did not expect major progress on food security issues at the upcoming G20.   He said he hoped the United States, which chairs the G8 next year, and Mexico, which takes over the G20 from France in 2012, will signal they intend to take up the issues.   "This is a real crisis and G20 leaders have a responsibility to take action to reduce the world"s vulnerability and food insecurity," said Watkins.   Citing a report by the U.S. based International Food Policy Research Institute, he said biofuel production in the European Union and U.S., extreme weather, and increased trading in commodity futures had exacerbated food price volatility.   Robert Zachritz, director advocacy and government relations at World Vision, noted that Americans will spend $7 billion on Halloween costumes and candy alone this year, nearly twice the $3 billion the United States has committed to feeding programs.
	United Nations, ILO, WHO call for global ‘protection floor’ fo All by Michelle Bachelet UN, ILO, WHO   October 2011   With more than five out of every seven people in the world lacking adequate social security, a high-level United Nations panel today called for guaranteeing basic income and services for all, not only as a means to ensure peace and stability but also to boost economic growth.   Measures providing income security and scaling up essential health services are affordable even in the poorest countries, costing as little as 1 to 2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), although international support is needed for some low-income countries, with donors providing predictable multi-year financial aid, according to the panel’s report – Social Protection Floor for a Fair and Inclusive Globalization.   This floor would guarantee basic income in the form of social transfers in cash or kind, such as pensions, child benefits, employment guarantees and services for the unemployed and working poor, while providing universal access to essential affordable social services in health, water and sanitation, education, food, housing, and other services defined according to national priorities.   “This is a crucial report that comes at a critical time,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on receiving the report from UN Women’s Executive Director Michelle Bachelet, chair of the Advisory Group convened by the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the UN World Health Organization (WHO).   “People everywhere are anxious about the future, frustrated about the economy, and upset with political leaders. Achieving social protection for all is critical to building fairer, more inclusive and equitable societies.”   The report calls on G-20 leaders to consider an “action plan” to implement such protection floors, whose specifics would be developed at the national level, through existing and new financing mechanisms. Some countries, such as El Salvador, Benin, Mozambique and Vietnam, could provide the floor for as little as 1 to 2 percent of GDP, it adds.   “Extending social protection is a ’win-win’ investment that pays off both in the short term, given its effects as macroeconomic stabilizer but also in the long term, due to the impacts on human development and productivity,” Ms. Bachelet said.   The social protection floor differs from the social safety net in that makes protection a full and permanent component of the development strategy for inclusive growth, going beyond the temporary ‘crisis management’ and ‘social relief’ synonymous with safety nets.   “Social protection floors are necessary, feasible and effective”, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said. “Cuts in social protection programmes as part of fiscal consolidation packages may weaken the recovery. By reaffirming their commitment to extend social protection, G-20 leaders can contribute to restore people’s confidence, which is a prerequisite to market confidence.”   According to the report, an estimated 5.1 billion people lack adequate social security or social protection worldwide, while just over 15 per cent of the jobless are receiving some form of unemployment benefits.   Among possible measures to finance the floor, a background paper cited debt cancellation, revenues from natural resources, improved tax collection in developing countries, as well as a financial and currency transaction tax, debt swap mechanisms, solidarity levies on airline tickets, and steps to facilitate remittances.   “By addressing the structural causes of poverty and inequality in a context of accelerated demographic ageing process, these actions [establishing the floor] can contribute to enhance social cohesion, peace and stability, which in turn help to minimize social unrest,” the report says in its recommendations.   Ms. Bachelet regretted the lack of progress since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 called for social protection for all with adequate living standards, access to health and education, food and housing, and social security.   “In 2010, what’s the reality is that global GDP is 10 times larger than in 1950, an increase of 260 per cent per capita, so you could think, ‘OK we’re in a great possibility to really be able to achieve what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has stated.’ But despite the six decades of strong economic growth… access to adequate social protections services and benefits remains a privileged offer to relatives few people.” Visit the related web page
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