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	Working together to make the world a better place for all by Claire Ngozo Inter Press Service Turkey   May 10, 2011 (IPS)   Better Global and Local Governance Key for LDCs, By Claire Ngozo.   The world’s poorest citizens must struggle for more democratic governance and demand that their leaders fulfill their duties and responsibilities if their countries are to graduate from the group of 48 least developed countries, say civil society representatives.   More than 8,000 people - representatives of governments, international agencies, development partners and civil society - are attending the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-IV), outlining a plan to lessen the burden of poverty, hunger and disease on the world"s most vulnerable people.   Speaking to delegates, Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said LDCs need to take ownership of and primary responsibility for their own development.   "The European Union underlines the interdependence of progress in the LDCs with human rights, gender equality, democracy and good governance as well as peace and security," said Barroso.   The private sector also has a crucial role to play in reducing the vulnerability of LDCs, according to Barroso. "They have a huge impact of people’s lives through generating wealth and employment."   But Demba Moussa Dembélé, a member of the Civil Society Steering Committee of LDC-IV, said developed countries had failed to meet their pledges of support to LDCs, especially in terms of official development assistance.   He also expressed a belief that international finance institutions are primarily concerned with cost-effectiveness and the ability to repay loans.   "LDC governments are not free to design their own financial policies that suit their priorities. The IMF and World Bank still have a huge say on how economies in the LDCs should be run," Dembélé told IPS.   Dembélé, who is the director of the African Forum on Alternatives, said the Brussels Programme of Action, drawn up at the previous LDC conference in 2001, failed to adequately recognise the sovereignty of LDC states and did not manage to create enough jobs for LDC citizens. The world"s poorest countries have been unable to gain a foothold in international trade, mobilise sufficient resources for development, or feed their populations.   Hunger remains a major concern in the least developed countries. The World Food Programme indicates that 12 out of 16 hunger hotspot countries are LDCs.   "No efforts were made to create subsidies for local farmers in the LDCs and they toil to feed themselves," said Dembélé.   The challenges facing LDCs have only grown since 2001, with fragile progress at the start of the decade reversed by factors such as the global financial crisis and the rising cost of food and fuel. Increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters have also played a role, according to the civil society forum.   But armed conflict, autocratic leadership and gender inequality - for example denying women and girls equal access to education or health care - have weakened least developed countries efforts to build productive economies and provide basic services.   Civil society"s vision of the way forward is contained in a report titled "A World without LDCs", which outlines an ambitious plan of action to lift the LDCs out of poverty and vulnerability.   Some of the recommendations being promoted by the civil society group include strengthening domestic economies by increasing democratic ownership and control of resources, setting up progressive domestic and international tax and tariff regimes and ensuring 100 percent duty and quota-free market access for LDC exports to the Rich World.   Arjun Karki, the spokesperson for the civil society forum at LDC-IV echoed Mr Barroso"s emphasis on governance within individual LDCs. "Citizens must be closely involved in the follow up and monitoring of the Istanbul Plan of Action if it is to succeed."   May 8, 2011   Time For New Approaches says Civil Society.   The dominant approaches to development have not delivered for the world’s poorest citizens and now the paradigm must change. This is the strong message coming from over 2,000 non-governmental organisations gathered at the civil society forum for the Fourth U.N. Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-IV) in Istanbul, Turkey.   Arjun Karki, spokesperson for the forum, told the gathering that the failure to see more LDC countries graduate from this most vulnerable classification reflects a serious failure of the model of development aid advanced by leading players in the international community.   NGOs charge that an approach privileging economic liberalisation and free trade has been unevenly applied in practice, with developed countries maintaining key measures to protect their own interests while pressing poorer countries to abandon them.   LDCs, have been obliged to follow the demands of international financial institutions rather than implement their own alternative policies and programmes for sustainable and broad-based development.   To move up from an LDC classification to the next rung - lower income country status - an economy must exceed LDC standards in two of the three categories for at least six years. Since the category of LDCs was created in 1971, only three countries have succeeded: Botswana, Cape Verde and Maldives.   "LDCs are facing a development emergency and it is the global responsibility to come together and lift the LDCs out of the perpetual cycle of poverty, vulnerability and instability," said Karki.   He said it is a bitter reality that poor and marginalised people in LDCs have gained little over the past decade. Instead they are having to bear the brunt of new crises of food, water, climate change and global finance, even though these are global problems created by others.   "We cannot keep witnessing the number of LDCs grow, as has been the case since 1971 - from 24 to 48 today. We must do better here in Istanbul," he said.   Civil society groups are recommending solutions that put people before profits. The recommendations are contained in a report titled "A World without LDCs", which was launched at the civil society forum on May 8.   The report reflects peoples’ perspectives and alternatives to poverty eradication and sustainable development that should shape the LDC agenda.   The new paradigm being put forward by civil society includes a demand for the immediate and unconditional cancellation of all debts owed by LDCs and a review of the mandate and operations of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.   Another demand is for the formulation of agricultural reform policies and their implementation in favour of smallholder farmers and providing for the regulation of food speculation, land grabs, genetically- modified seeds and large-scale biofuel production.   "Women in LDCs bear the brunt of economic and social hardships," said Wubitu Hailu, managing director of an Ethiopian NGO, the Kulich Youth Reproductive Health and Development Organisation. The failure to provide access to basic services like clean water and electricity is a major factor preventing women from realising their full potential.   "In Ethiopia, for instance, women travel long distances looking for water and they risk getting raped, abused and abducted. They end up getting involved in early marriages, early pregnancies and unwanted children.   She said a cycle of poverty continues to be perpetrated because of this. "These chores are hampering the social and economic development of women around the world and especially in the LDCs."   Hailu said access to water and energy should be basic human rights. She said these services are being denied to the people of LDCs.   Up to 2.5 billion people worldwide find basic daily tasks like lighting their homes, cooking a meal or heating water a challenge, according to delegates to the civil society forum at the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-IV) currently taking place in Istanbul, Turkey.   A supply of clean water must be guaranteed for everyone and not conditioned on the ability to pay, according to Maria Lourdes Tabios Nuera, a campaigner for Jubilee South-Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development.   "Water sources need to be shared equitably by all and need to be protected and managed properly, democratically and sustainably. Control over water resources and services must be in the public domain and should not be privatised," said Nuera.   During the last two decades, there has been a vigorous movement to privatise water, with a small number of global water corporations dominating control of water resources and services.   But Nuera said privatisation has led to reduced access for marginalised and impoverished communities and the violation of the human right to water.   "We are fighting for the transformation of states and the establishment of democratic governments so that they become true instruments of people power. These are vital requirements towards sustainable and democratic management of water resources and services."   She called on governments to address water injustices and oppose policies that take advantage of water crises to justify and push for privatization and turning water into a commodity. "We are demanding that the U.N. declaration on the right to water should be incorporated into national legislation," said Nuera.   The demand for electricity is also urgent. The LDC conference should affirm people’s right to energy that is adequate, reliable, affordable, safe, clean and sustainable, according to Nuera.   "We are calling for the restructuring of ownership of resources, of production, of consumption and towards the transformation of the global economic and financial system," she said. "This is in recognition that the power industry needs to be managed well, is shared equitably and democratically."   Uma Chowdhury Director of Sushasoner Jonny Procharavizan, a local NGO for good governance in Bangladesh said that electrification has significant positive impacts on households’ income expenditure and educational outcomes.   "The gain in total income due to electrification can be as much as 30 percent," Chowdhury said. She worried that energy scarcity is one of the main reasons for poverty and accompanied environmental hazards in Bangladesh and other LDCs.   The chairperson of the Turkish section of medical charity Doctors Worldwide, Dr Ihsan Karaman, agreed with Karki. He said that despite many LDCs being endowed with rich natural resources, they have not been able to achieve self-sufficiency and prosperity for more than a century.   "This situation stands before us as a shame of the international community. In the globalising world, it is self-evident that no matter how far they are from each other, countries and societies interact with each other, and when the resources are not shared and used in an equal and healthy way, humanity as a whole will suffer from it," said Karaman.   He said it is not possible to talk about a global conscience or global justice, when the development partners can sleep comfortably even though they know that the flip side of the wealth of the developed world is that 12 percent of the planet"s people go to bed with an empty stomach every night.   Karaman condemned the spending of vast sums on military technology and wars, without honouring much smaller commitments to development aid that could quickly eliminate underdevelopment.   "Let us make decisions together to change this brutal order of the world, which makes the rich richer, and the poor poorer. As parliaments, governments, the private sector, intelligentsia, umbrella organizations and the civil society, let us all renew our oath and join forces for a world without LDCs," said Karaman.   Civil society is hoping that the conference will raise the voice of the global conscience, and give precedence to the shared values of humanity over political and economic goals.   U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who attended the civil society forum, told participants that there is indeed a need for the world to work together to make the world a better place for all and that the Istanbul conference should reflect the voices of the civil society for progress. He said he believed LDCs are poised to ride the next wave of development.   Least Developed Countries (LDCs)   LDCs are characterised first by low per capita income, below 900 dollars per year; second, by weaknesses in human development including such things as health, nutrition and education; and third, by economic vulnerability in agricultural output, and narrow dependence on limited exports that are vulnerable to sudden, drastic price changes.   Energy issues, food and economic crises, gender discrimination, climate change, threats to environment and human health due to unhealthy conditions of production, war and civil war are some of the major problems affecting the 48 countries classed as least developed - 33 of them are found in sub-Saharan Africa. Visit the related web page
	World Water by Maude Barlow Food & Water Watch   According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.7 billion people still lack access to clean water. 2.3 billion people suffer from water-borne diseases each year.   While the demand for water is on the rise, the supply is shrinking. Water-intensive agriculture, population growth, industrial pollution, breakneck development and other ecological threats are depleting freshwater supplies.   The World Bank and other dominant international financial institutions condition their loans on privatization and increased cost recovery – which often requires charging water fees from those who make less than $2 per day.   The result of privatization in numerous countries has been disastrous – less access to water for the poor, extremely high tariffs, and poor water quality.   Food & Water Watch works with coalition partners in communities around the world that are facing the privatization of water. Our goal is to defend water as a public resource, to ensure access to safe and affordable water, to help to build a strong coalition against privatization, and to promote the recognition of the right to water internationally. Visit the related web page
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