[Deuda-QdQ] [Qui-deu-a-qui] [Fwd: URGENT Need your comments and help re G8Summit Sign on statement]

[Rica Garcia]

Intento hacer la traducción .. os envío más tarde para que le deis un vistazo, sí ? rica



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Iolanda Fresnillo - ODG 
  To: Lista Distribucion Campaña 2005 ; qui-deu-a-qui en moviments.net 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 8:50 PM
  Subject: [Qui-deu-a-qui] [Fwd: URGENT Need your comments and help re G8Summit Sign on statement]


  Hola

  Nos envían desde Jubileo Sur el comunicado sobre el próximo g8, que se reuniran en breve en Japón (del 7 al 9 de julio) trantando los temas de precio de petroleo, cambio climatico y crisis alimentaria. 

  Os lo envio sin tiempo de repasarlo antes, por lo que no sé si podemos firmar como QdQ. 

  En cualquier caso nos piden ayuda con la traducción al español ... algun/a voluntario/aria?

  Besos

  Iolanda


  ---------------------------------------------------------- 


  Challenge to the G8





  The gathering of the richest and most powerful countries of the world is an occasion for the people of the world to demand that this G8 Summit address the twin 'tsunamis' that plague humanity today – the food and climate crisis – and the continuing problem of debt that has contributed significantly to these two crises and exacerbate their impacts.



  The Food crisis



  The high price of oil, worsening climate conditions and price manipulation by domestic and international trading cartels have certainly contributed significantly to the abrupt, massive increase in the prices of food.  However, the food crisis can be also be traced to economic policies that have been imposed on the countries of the South for decades, with the use of debt, access to credit and debt relief as instruments for coercion. 



  The combination of several policies that were part of conditionality packages of the IMF and World Bank led to falling productivity in basic food agricultures and heavy reliance on imported fertilizers and pesticides, consequently resulting in higher costs and less sustainable production of food. For example, there has been a massive shift to non-staple and non-food export crops and a drastic conversion of prime agricultural lands for non-agricultural uses, such as the building of export processing zones. These policy conditionalities included the removal of state subsidies for production of basic food crops, the stress on export-oriented high growth development strategies, the privatization of services and infrastructures, the liberalization of trade which gave rise to   unfair competition from subsidized food products from the north, and the liberalization of finance capital flows that fed speculative industries including real estate. 



  In addition, the effects of huge debt payment on government resources include the deterioration and neglect of many public infrastructures needed to boost agricultural production, such as irrigation systems, and farm to market roads.



  The ability of many countries of the South, from Asia to Africa to Latin America and the Caribbean, to produce sufficiently for their own food needs and keep prices accessible to the domestic market have thus been steadily and dramatically eroding since the 1980's.  This is indicated by the increase of net food importing countries from the South in the past two decades, the diminishing capability of many countries to maintain adequate buffer stocks of staple grains, and the increasing vulnerability to world food market supply and price dynamics.  



  The mantra of the international financial institutions pushing these policies was—"food security is not about producing what you need but the ability to buy what you need."  This argument is ridiculous in situations where per capita income is far removed from the actual income of the majority and the withdrawal of state intervention and regulation in food distribution (another policy conditionality accompanying loans and debt relief) virtually means hunger and malnutrition for this majority.  Such argument is rendered even more ridiculous in the face of fast dwindling global buffer stocks of rice and of other staple grains needed by billions of people in the South, stocks which could be nearly wiped out by extreme weather in the next harvest seasons.   What do you do with your money if there is not enough rice and grains to go around and last till the next harvest?  For peoples and countries of the South assert – without food sovereignty there is no real food security.



  Many point out that the food crisis is less about supply but more about access. They argue that there is enough food being produced globally to feed everyone. This may be true, setting aside food culture and norms and notwithstanding supply problems for specific staples.  It needs to be raised yet again that the burden of debt and related conditionalities impact greatly on the question of access. 



  A tragic irony of the spiraling increase of food prices is that small farmers and landless peasants have had no real benefits as farm gate prices continue to be low and less than enough to support their families. And as consumers themselves, they share in the greater suffering caused by the food crises.



  The G8 governments bear primary responsibility for the debt burden and the debt-related policy conditionalities that contributed to the current food crisis and magnify its impacts. They are, after all, the biggest bilateral lenders and the most influential members of international financial institutions. They also bear responsibility for other factors to the food crisis -- as governments of countries which are home to most of the biggest multinational food corporations and food commodities market traders, as powerful governments which shape bilateral and multilateral trade agreements affecting food production, food prices and food distribution. 



  The Climate Crisis



  The G8 governments also bear primary responsibility for the climate crisis.  Half of the world's green house gas emissions come from the G8 countries. Most, if not all, of the G8 countries are lagging behind the reduction targets of GHG emissions. Even the European Union, which considers itself a world leader in addressing climate change through its bold plan of being the first de-carbonized economy in the world, has undermined its own claims by planning to build 40 major new coal power plants in the next five years.



   And again, as the most powerful members of international financial institutions, they are accountable for debt-related projects and policies that exacerbate the climate crisis.



  The World Bank and the regional development banks are major lenders to projects involving fossil fuel industries, paid for by peoples of the South. The Export Credit Agencies of G8 countries also provide financing to these industries, part of which translates to liabilities of Southern governments, again paid for by peoples of the South.



  Since the Earth Summit and the signing of the Climate Convention in 1992, and even after instituting "environmental policies," the World Bank has approved more than 133 financial packages to oil, coal and gas extraction projects, comprising mainly of loans but also including equity investments, guarantees and some grants. The total amount exceeds US$28 billion dollars. Fossil fuel corporations based in G8 countries benefit from almost every project finance package. 

  In 2006, more than 70% of the World Bank's total energy program was for oil, gas, and power commitments with "new renewables" such as wind, solar, and mini-hydro comprising on 6%.   The International Finance Corporation of the World Bank (which lends to the private sector) is increasing its fossil fuel lending portfolio. 



  The Asian Development Bank, to which Japan and the United States are the biggest shareholders, is a major lender to coal, oil and gas projects in Asia, approving close to US$2 billion worth of loan packages since the year 2000. 



  Other loan-financed projects and policy conditionalities of international financial institutions have led to massive deforestation, another major factor to climate change. These include, for instance, the building of large-scale dams, road development in tropical forests, and the promotion of palm oil production for export.  



  It is indeed ironic and deplorable that with such a record, the G8 governments is granting the World Bank a pre-eminent role in global financing of climate mitigation and adaptation and the promotion of "clean technology" and "clean development."  In the July 2005 Summit, the G8 declared that the "The World Bank will take a leadership role in creating a new framework for clean energy and development, including investment and financing."  The regional development banks are also claiming a similar or supporting role within their sphere of operations.



  The World Bank announced very recently that it will be establishing Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) including the Clean Technology Fund. Aside from the obvious inappropriateness of the World Bank managing these Funds given its record and continuing role in worsening the climate crisis, the concepts, design and intentions of the funds are seriously flawed. For instance the definition of "clean technology" is so ambiguous as to include coal plants which are being justified as "less dirty" and necessary for "poverty reduction".



  The G8 governments are not only promoting false solutions through the different facilities under the auspices of these international financial institutions, they are intending to finance these through loans, thus adding to the debt burden of developing countries. The UK government has been leading the call for other governments to contribute to funds to be administered by the World Bank as loans. 



  Instead of asking for repayment of financing for climate mitigation and adaptation or treating this financing as "assistance" – the G8 governments should begin with the recognition of the huge ecological debt that they owe the countries and peoples of the South. They should bear the responsibility for the financing of climate mitigation and adaption in the South as part of the restitution and reparations for the environmental damage and destruction their policies and programs, their economies and corporations have caused. The funds should be managed by democratic and accountable institutions.



  The Injustice of the Debt Burden and the problem of Illegitimate Debts



  The payment of huge amounts of debt service amplifies the effects of the food and climate crises and hampers the ability of countries and peoples of the South to deal with these crises.   This is part of the injustice of the debt and for this alone debt cancellation is urgent.  



  But the debt is more than just the implications of losing much needed resources to debt payments. Debts which have not benefited the people in whose name they were incurred, debts which were used for harmful projects or to impose harmful conditionalities such as those which contributed to the food and climate crises -- these are illegitimate debts and should not be paid.



  Addressing the debt burden and illegitimate debt is a major step towards immediate as well as long term solutions to the food and climate crises.  



  Calls and Demands



  We urge all people's organizations and movements (labor, farmers, women, youth and indigenous peoples), faith-based organizations, social and political movements and all concerned citizens to challenge the governments of the G8 countries to acknowledge their responsibility for the food and climate crises and the continuing problem of debt, and take decisive action to:



    1.. Cancel all illegitimate debt 
    2.. Stop financing projects and policies that contribute to climate change 
    3.. Reverse policies that have led to the food crisis 
    4.. End the practice of using loans and debt cancellation to impose conditionalities 
    5.. Pay restitution and reparations for the huge ecological debts owed to the South. 






-- 

**********************************
Iolanda Fresnillo i Sallan
Observatori del Deute en la Globalització
www.odg.cat
iolanda.fresnillo en odg.cat
+93 785 13 18
Skype Id: ifresnillo

Atenció! Els correus electrònics de l'ODG ara acaben en @odg.cat (enlloc de debtwatch.org)
Atención! Los correos electrónicos del ODG ahora acaban en @odg.cat (en lugar de debtwatch.org)
Attention! ODG e-mail addresses now finish in @odg.cat (instead of debtwatch.org)

**********************************




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