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	The largest 1 percent of farms operate more than 70 percent of the world’s farmland by International Land Coalition   Nov. 2020   In a new study released today, researchers say that land inequality is rising in most countries.   Worse, new measures and analysis proves that land inequality is significantly higher than previously recorded, with data reporting a 41 percent increase compared to traditional census data.   The report, Uneven Ground: land inequality at the heart of unequal societies, is the first of its kind, shedding new light on the scale and speed of this growing phenomenon and providing the most comprehensive picture available today.   The report was informed by 17 specially commissioned research papers as well as analysis of existing data and literature under a wide partnership led by the International Land Coalition, and in close collaboration with Oxfam.   “In the framework of this project, a new way to measure land inequality was developed that goes beyond land size distribution captured through traditional agricultural census.” said Ward Anseeuw, co-author of the report and coordinator of the initiative.   Historically, methods to measure land inequality excluded vital pieces of information, such as the value of land, multiple ownership and landlessness, as well as the control a person or an entity has over it.   “These findings radically alter our understanding of the extent and far reaching consequences land inequality has, proving that not only is it a bigger problem than we thought but it’s undermining the stability and development of sustainable societies,” Anseeuw added.   The shocking state of land inequality   New measurements show that the top 10 percent of the rural population captures 60 percent of agricultural land value, while the bottom 50 percent of the rural populations only control 3 percent of land value.   The study finds that land inequality directly threatens the livelihoods of an estimated 2.5 billion people involved in smallholder agriculture, as well the world’s poorest 1.4 billion people, most of whom depend largely on agriculture for their livelihoods.   “Growing inequality is the greatest obstacle to poverty eradication; in countries like Guatemala, extreme inequality costs lives,” asserts Oxfam Guatemala Country Director, Ana María Mendez.   “In rural Guatemala, extreme land inequality undermines the rights and livelihoods of indigenous and small-farmer communities and exacerbates the climate crisis. Today, as we confront the coronavirus pandemic and catastrophic hurricanes fueled by climate change, the impact of land inequality is even more stark, and the imperative to tackle the problem is urgent” she added.   Hidden hands – the unseen drivers of land inequality   Global inequality experts blame the upward trend of land inequality partly on the increased interest from corporate and financial actors, such as investment funds, in agricultural land investments. As corporate and financial investments grow, ownership and control of land becomes more concentrated and increasingly opaque.   Today, the largest 1 percent of farms operate more than 70 percent of the world’s farmland and are integrated into the corporate food system, while over 80 percent are smallholdings of less than two hectares that are generally excluded from global food chains.   This phenomenon has even reached European shores with less than 3 percent of farms now accounting for more than half of the farmed land in the EU.   The report further brings new evidence to light on how tackling land inequality is imperative to effectively respond to the most pressing challenges of our times and has the potential to deliver significant positive outcomes for humanity and the planet.   If not addressed and the trend continues, increasing land inequality will have significant negative consequences for all societies, on economic and social development, on the environment and on democracy and peace. Yet the authors insist that land concentration is not inevitable.   “What we’re seeing is that land inequality is fundamentally a product of elite control, corporate interests, and political choices. And although the importance of land inequality is widely accepted, the tools to address it remain weakly implemented and vested interests in existing land distribution patterns, hard to shift,” said Giulia Baldinelli of ILC and co-author of the report.   Nevertheless, the study finds that change is necessary and the urgency of addressing land inequality is fuelled by the same urgency with which people are demanding action on contemporary global crises.   “As we move towards a post-Covid world, we will see increased pressure for fast economic gain at the expense of people and nature,” Mike Taylor, Director of the International Land Coalition Secretariat warned.   Adding, “there is always, however, a more inclusive path to re-building our economies, that emphasises sustainable use of natural resources, respects human rights and addresses systemic causes of inequality.”   # The International Land Coalition is a global network of over 250 organisations around the globe working together to put people at the centre of land governance, responding to the needs and protecting the rights of women, men and communities who live on and from the land.   http://www.landcoalition.org/en/uneven-ground/ Visit the related web page
	Debt relief for poor countries by Jubilee Debt Campaign, agencies   June 2022   Countries in debt crisis cut public spending.   New figures released today by anti-poverty campaigners Debt Justice (Jubilee Debt Campaign) show that countries in debt crisis are expected to spend less in 2023 than in 2019, despite the urgent need for public expenditure in response to surging food and fuel prices.   Lower income countries with the highest debt payments have seen public spending drops of an average of 3% between 2019 and 2023.   Increased public spending on essential services and infrastructure is vital for responding to soaring food and energy prices, climate crisis and other national needs, but the lack of effective debt relief mechanisms is forcing countries in debt crisis to cut public spending in order to make debt payments.   The research by Debt Justice is being released today ahead of an inquiry by the UK Parliament’s International Development Select Committee into the debt crisis in low income countries. The UK has significant power to make private lenders take part in debt relief as 90% of bonds of countries eligible for the G20’s debt relief scheme are governed by English law.   Tess Woolfenden, Senior Policy Officer at Debt Justice said: “Lower-income countries are being forced to prioritise debt payments over public spending on healthcare or access to food, right at a time when spending is so urgently needed. The UK must act to make private lenders take part in debt relief. Debt repayments to wealthy lenders should not take precedence over people’s needs in a time of multiple crises.”   Abu Bakarr Kamara, Coordinator at the Budget Advocacy Network in Sierra Leone said: “With Ebola and Covid-19, Sierra Leone has faced two major health crises in recent years, which have collapsed the health sector and the economy. Yet debt payments are taking away resources that are vital for recovery. Cancelling Sierra Leone’s debt is one vital tool to help the Government increase its fiscal space to invest in the health sector in a transparent and accountable way.”   Debt Justice has used IMF data to calculate external government debt payments and public spending cuts for 41 countries where there is information.   The countries with highest debt payments of over 15% of government revenue faced a drop in public spending of 3% between 2019 and 2023, compared to an increase of 14% for the countries with the lowest debt payments.   The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly increased debt levels in the last 2 years. External debt payments are now at the highest level since 2001. Rising US and global interest rates, rising food and energy prices and the global impacts of the Ukraine war could significantly exacerbate debt levels further.   The G20 created a new debt relief scheme at the end of 2020, called the Common Framework, but none of the countries which have applied for it have yet had any debt cancelled. Private creditors could make large profits from their loans to lower income countries if repaid in full.   Faced with the prospect of an intensifying debt crisis in 2022, the IMF has called for faster action on debt relief by compelling private sector participation in the Common Framework. On 21 April 2022 IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said: “We also are pressing for some of the changes, legal changes that need to happen in New York, in London, to close loopholes for vulture funds and others to prevent debt resolution..”   http://debtjustice.org.uk/press-release/countries-in-debt-crisis-cut-public-spending-in-face-of-soaring-prices http://debtjustice.org.uk/press-release/african-governments-owe-three-times-more-debt-to-private-lenders-than-china http://debtjustice.org.uk/news/iwd2022   Jan. 2022   Growing global debt crisis to worsen with interest rate rises   New figures released by Jubilee Debt Campaign show that developing country debt payments have increased 120% between 2010 and 2021 and are higher than at any point since 2001. Average government external debt payments were 14.3% of government revenue in 2021, up from 6.8% in 2010. Payments shot up in 2020 and have remained high in 2021.   High debt payments are preventing many countries from tackling and recovering from the Covid pandemic. Rising US and global interest rates in 2022 could further intensify the debt crisis many lower income countries are facing. The US Federal Reserve meets on 25-26 January to discuss options for raising interest rates through 2022.   Heidi Chow, Executive Director of Jubilee Debt Campaign, said:   “The debt crisis continues to engulf lower income countries, with no end in sight unless there is urgent action on debt relief. The debt crisis has already stripped countries of the resources needed to tackle the climate emergency and the continued disruption from Covid, while rising interest rates threaten to sink countries in even more debt. G20 leaders cannot keep burying their heads in the sand and wish the debt crisis away. We urgently need a comprehensive debt cancellation scheme which compels private lenders to take part in debt relief.”   In 2022, of external debt payments due to be paid by low and lower middle-income governments, 47% are to private lenders, 27% multilateral institutions, 12% China and 14% governments other than China.   The figures are released through Jubilee Debt Campaign’s ‘Debt Data Portal’, which compiles key statistics and analysis on the debts of countries and governments. The latest analysis finds that 54 countries globally are in debt crisis, meaning that debt payments are undermining the ability of governments to protect the basic economic and social rights of their citizens.   Kenya and Malawi are among the countries which have entered debt crisis this year. The updated analysis finds a further 14 countries are at risk of both a public and private debt crisis, 22 at risk of solely a private sector debt crisis, and 21 at risk of a public sector debt crisis.   Jason Braganza, Executive Director of the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) said:   “Since before the pandemic, AFRODAD had cautioned on the debt precipice facing many African countries. Covid-19 accelerated an already deteriorating situation and will reverse the socio-economic gains of the past decade. We have consistently said the current debt relief measures aren’t good enough and have called for a truly inclusive debt relief programme with all creditors; and a comprehensive debt cancellation programme. This is what will save African citizens from difficult times ahead.”   Faced with the prospect of an intensifying debt crisis in 2022, the World Bank has called for faster action on debt relief. On 18 January President of the World Bank David Malpass tweeted: “With too many developing countries facing record levels of external and domestic debt, we cannot afford to wait any longer. The world’s poorest urgently need deep debt relief, enhanced debt transparency and a rebalancing of creditor/debtor powers.”   The G20 created a new debt relief scheme at the end of 2020, called the Common Framework, but none of the countries which have applied for it have yet had any debt cancelled.   http://jubileedebt.org.uk/press-release/growing-debt-crisis-to-worsen-with-interest-rate-rises   Nov. 2021   Austerity Redux: The Post-pandemic Wave of Budget Cuts and the Future of Global Public Health, by Alexander Kentikelenis, Thomas Stubbs.   The convergence of health, economic and social crises over the past 1.5 years has posed profound questions over the direction of travel for the world after COVID-19. The narrative emerging out of major international organizations like the International Monetary Fund stresses avoiding a ‘divergent recovery’, whereby some countries steam ahead with high growth rates underpinned by robust government interventions and others fall further behind.   In this account, crisis aftermath should not witness budget cuts, but investment in employment and human capital formation. So, is austerity a thing of the past?   In this article, we review available evidence, focusing on public spending projections by the IMF and the precise content of IMF lending arrangements.   Overall, we find that abandonment of the austerity argument is partially true right now, and questionable in the medium-term. Our analysis of public expenditure projections reveals that by 2023, 83 out of 189 countries will face contractions in government spending compared to their 2010s average, thereby exposing a cumulative total of 2.3 billion people to the socio-economic consequences of budget cuts.   Most of the contracting countries will be middle-income, while public spending in low-income countries is expected to stagnate at low levels.   Further, the IMF's lending arrangements reveal the return of extensive austerity measures and structural reforms, reminiscent of the organization's past policy advice. Drawing on these findings, we elaborate on how this will likely impact global public health.   Policy Implications   Efforts to achieve equitable and sustainable development once the pandemic subsides could be jeopardized by an impending wave of budget cuts. Policymakers need to prepare for and mitigate crises in public finances in the medium-term.   International financial institutions need to bolster their financial assistance to help countries bridge their financing gaps without resorting to stringent conditionality.   Austerity measures have repeatedly been shown to have adverse socio-economic effects and should therefore be avoided. Progress in investing in health systems needs to be maintained with a focus on achieving universal health coverage rather than imposing budget cuts to the healthcare sector.   http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1758-5899.13028   Oct. 2021   Restructure debt to spend more on human rights, expert urges. (OHCHR)   Global discussions on trade and development starting this weekend must put human rights at the heart of any solutions for the debts that cripple poorer countries’ ability to deliver essential services, a UN human rights expert appointed by the Human Rights Council said today.   “Debt is a human rights issue,” said Attiya Waris, the UN Independent Expert on debt, other international financial obligations and human rights.   “When countries are burdened by debt, they don’t have the money to ensure access to their human rights, including services such as water and food or, during the pandemic, vaccines, hospitals and medical personnel,” she said.   “Human rights take money. People understand this now, more than ever, after a year and a half of a global pandemic,” Waris said. “What we need now is debt restructuring, tax justice firmly grounded in human rights, systemic reform, and effective measures to address illicit financial flows.”   She added that “the debt situation is so serious globally that one is reminded of the African proverb ‘poverty without debt is wealth’.”   A high-level summit aims to highlight the urgency of reducing inequality and vulnerability through trade and development that works for everyone.   “The summit is taking place as the world grapples with intertwining crises piled on top of crises,” she said. “There is a health crisis, a socio-economic crisis with growing inequalities within and across countries, a climate crisis, and a human rights crisis and on top of it all, a looming debt crisis affecting low and middle income countries.   “We need to stop talking and take action,” she said. “We need urgent reform of the international debt architecture, the way lenders put pressure on developing countries to pay unpayable debts. Human rights must not be left out of the equation when we look for the effective, sustainable debt relief and restructuring that low and middle-income countries urgently need.”   Detailed recommendations on how this can be accomplished are contained in the report on international debt architecture reform and human rights: http://undocs.org/A/76/167   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/IEDebt/Pages/InternationalDebtArchitecture.aspx   June 2021   The G7 ducks the challenge of the debt crisis, by Tess Woolfenden   Over the last few weeks, the attention of the world has been on the leaders of the G7 as they discussed the critical issues we all face, including vaccines, tax reform and the climate crisis.   The good news is that the debt crisis in the global South was on the agenda, but were the announcements enough to address the scale of the problem? The short answer is no.   It was a missed opportunity for the G7 to use its power for good. While they make woefully inadequate statements on global debt without the participation of the global South, governments of poorer countries are faced with ever shrinking resources to address COVID-19, the climate crisis and development goals.   People cannot access healthcare or the vaccine, they are witnessing devastating changes to their way of life from the human-made climate crisis, and some face increasingly unaffordable taxes to cover the costs of their governments’ debt.   In the words of Ausi Kibowa, Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) Uganda:   “The second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic is already taking its toll on the lives of many innocent African citizens as their governments have still failed to secure adequate vaccines for them. Many of these countries need adequate debt relief to free up more resources so as to fight the pandemic. G7 Governments should act now to find tangible ways to support developing countries negotiate debt reductions with private creditors.”   Unfortunately, they did not. Here is our breakdown of the key debt-related takeaways:   The Common Framework   The G7 restated their commitment to the Common Framework as a solution for unsustainable debt in the global South. The framework aims to provide debt treatment on a case-by-case basis for eligible countries that request it. But there are a few problems.   The first is that only 73 of the world’s poorest countries are eligible to apply, leaving many countries with unsustainable debt excluded from the process. The second is that the Common Framework is an ad hoc process, meaning there is no way to guarantee debt relief if a country applies to the initiative. Outcomes are reliant on successful negotiation with creditors which can be challenging and lengthy processes.   To date, progress within the Common Framework has failed to match the urgency of the situation, with only one creditor committee set up so far for one of the three countries that have applied. Neither of these issues were addressed by the G7, despite the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen showing her support for the expansion of the Common Framework to middle-income countries last month.   The Common Framework is also failing to include private creditors in the process. While the G7 stated that they expected private creditors “to provide at least as favourable debt treatment in line with the Common Framework”, they did not take any steps to make it happen, in the face of private creditors’ almost complete failure to engage so far.   Instead, they continue to rely on exhorting them to do the right thing. The obvious way to secure private sector participation would be to introduce legislation that would force their hand, but once again this was not mentioned..   * A series of infograms and charts highlight the increasing impact of debt and the Covid-19 pandemic in the global south: http://bit.ly/3PlTiC5   http://jubileedebt.org.uk/news/the-g7-ducks-the-challenge-of-the-debt-crisis http://data.jubileedebt.org.uk/ http://www.eurodad.org/debt_justice http://act.progressive.international/debt/#index http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/our-campaigns/aid/calling-for-debt-justice/ http://www.unicef-irc.org/events/covid-and-the-looming-debt-crisis.html http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/1193-covid-19-looming-debt-crisis-protecting-transforming-social-spending-for-inclusive-recoveries.html   Oct. 2020 (Jubilee Debt Campaign)   The G20 Finance Ministers have announced a 6-month extension to their Debt Service Suspension Initiative. They also indicated that next month they will discuss a common framework for debt reduction and indicated this will require the participation of private lenders but will only be available on a ‘case-by-case’ basis. They have not given any further details.   Reacting to the announcement of the 6-month extension Sarah-Jayne Clifton, Director of Jubilee Debt Campaign, said:   “The extension of the limited debt suspension scheme does little to tackle the profound debt and health crises impacting many of the poorest people in the world. The G20’s failure to include private and multilateral lenders in the scheme shows a disregard for the scale of the global South debt crisis and will mean over $3 billion in debt payments continue to leave the poorest countries every month. It is scandalous that private lenders are still making large profits out of poor countries at this time".   Reacting to the discussions over a future debt cancellation scheme Sarah-Jayne Clifton added:   “We welcome the G20 plans to discuss debt cancellation and private creditor participation at a special meeting in November. But this needs to be comprehensive, not case-by-case. Next month the G20 need to agree to cancel debt payments by the poorest countries to private, multilateral and bilateral lenders for four years. Doing so could save up to $180 billion to protect livelihoods and public services during the pandemic and support the recovery afterwards.”   Cafod, Christian Aid, Global Justice Now, Jubilee Debt Campaign and Oxfam have today released a report “Under the radar: Private sector debt and coronavirus in developing countries”. The briefing shines a light on the debt owed to private creditors by five African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia. It highlights the central role of financial corporations like BlackRock, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, Legal & General, JP Morgan and UBS.   Jubilee Debt Campaign’s briefing, “How the IMF can unlock multilateral debt cancellation” released earlier this week outlined how gold sales and Special Drawing Rights could be used to fund debt payment cancellation to multilateral institutions. The briefing argued this should be part of a comprehensive scheme which requires private lenders and governments to also cancel debt payments to them.   http://jubileedebt.org.uk/blog/the-g20s-debt-deal-letting-private-lenders-off-the-hook-again http://bit.ly/3m0xZY1 http://www.one.org/international/blog/common-framework-debt-treatment-game-changer/ http://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/why-the-g20s-failure-on-debt-cancellation-is-bad-news-for-women/ http://www.eurodad.org/debt_justice http://taxjustice.net/2020/11/20/427bn-lost-to-tax-havens-every-year-landmark-study-reveals-countries-losses-and-worst-offenders/ http://gcap.global/news/open-letter-to-all-governments-international-institutions-and-lenders/ http://newint.org/features/2020/10/14/official-global-economy-debtors-prison   Transparency International, Amnesty International and CIVICUS had written to the G-20 finance ministers ahead of their meeting in November to warn that the world is facing a crisis unlike any in the last century and that debt suspension is only a first step. Though the global economy has begun a gradual recovery with the reopening of some businesses and borders, the recovery has been sharply uneven.   The groups urged the G-20 nations to suspend debt payments at least through to the end of 2021, saying many of the poorest countries are still spending more on debt payments than on life-saving public services.   Oxfam International said it believes that the six-month extension was “the bare minimum the G-20 could do.”   “The failure to cancel debt payments will only delay the tsunami of debt that will engulf many of the world’s poorest countries, leaving them unable to afford the investment in healthcare and social safety nets so desperately needed,” said Jaime Atienza, an Oxfam official who manages debt policy.   Oxfam and other groups are also calling on private lenders and investment funds to make similar concessions for the poorest countries by suspending their debt repayments.   http://jubileedebt.org.uk/press-release/reaction-to-g20-debt-suspension-and-common-framework http://jubileedebt.org.uk/news http://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/un-desa-policy-brief-86-the-long-term-impact-of-covid-19-on-poverty/ http://gcap.global/news/statement-for-the-international-day-for-the-eradication-of-poverty-2020/   http://jubileedebt.org.uk/blog/g20-failures-and-our-next-steps http://donate.savethechildren.org/en/takeaction/debt-relief-petition http://www.ituc-csi.org/g20-finance-ministers-meeting-fails http://www.ei-ie.org/en/detail/16969/global-unions-call-upon-the-world-bank-and-the-imf-to-support-public-investment http://gcap.global/news/joint-cso-letter-to-g20-07-2020/ http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2020/10/08/pandemic-debt-crisis-looms http://www.one.org/international/press/one-campaign-reacts-to-world-bank-annual-meeting/ http://www.one.org/international/blog/ripping-rulebook-debt/ http://www.one.org/international/blog/global-poverty-covid-19/ http://www.undocs.org/A/75/164 http://bit.ly/3iEbeX7 http://bit.ly/33yz0ja http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/IEDebt/Pages/IEDebtIndex.aspx   http://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/end-poverty-postponed http://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/precarity-and-pandemic http://bit.ly/3jc66d8 http://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/covid-19-intensifies-global-need-support-informal-workers-their-struggle http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/poverty/ http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2020/gender-equality-in-the-wake-of-covid-19-en.pdf http://bit.ly/3m3GAZD http://data.unicef.org/topic/child-poverty/covid-19/ http://debtjustice.org.uk/press-release/poor-countries-cut-public-spending-in-response-to-trebling-of-debt-payments Visit the related web page
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