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	Top one per cent own half the wealth and the poorest half own just one per cent by Oxfam International   Oct 2015   Responding to Credit Suisse''s findings that the richest one per cent now own as much as the rest of the world put together, Oxfam''s Chief Executive said:   "This is the latest evidence that extreme inequality is out of control. Are we really happy to live in a world where the top one per cent own half the wealth and the poorest half own just one per cent?   "World leaders are talking big about tackling inequality but they have done nothing to disturb the ''trickle up'' economics that benefits the rich but has left hundreds of millions of people around the globe without enough to eat. Without action to tackle the growing gap between the richest and the rest, we have little hope of ending extreme poverty.   "Eyebrows were raised when earlier this year Oxfam predicted that the richest 1 per cent would own more than the rest of us by 2016. The fact it has happened a year early - just weeks after world leaders agreed a global goal to reduce inequality - shows just how urgently world leaders need to tackle this problem."   http://www.oxfam.org.uk/blogs/2015/10/reaction-to-credit-suisse-global-wealth-report   Oct. 2015   Oxfam criticizes ‘toothless’ OECD Tax Package   The OECD’s Tax Package, released in Paris today, will not stop corporate tax dodgers cheating poor countries out of billions of dollars of tax revenues, says Oxfam. The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan outlines 15 measures aimed at tackling aggressive tax avoidance by multinational companies.   Claire Godfrey, Oxfam’s global policy lead on inequality said: “Rich governments are all bark and no bite when it comes to corporate tax dodging. This package of measures will not prevent another Lux Leaks type scandal and will not stop multinational companies cheating poor countries out of billions of dollars in taxes – money which is desperately needed to tackle poverty and inequality.”   Rich countries and corporate interests have dominated negotiations on the action plan while the majority of developing countries – representing two thirds of the world’s governments - played no formal role. As a result it fails to properly address the needs of poor countries and only goes a small way towards reforming a dysfunctional global tax system that facilitates corporate tax dodging.   For example the package does not legislate for multinational companies to have pay tax where they do real business or to stop the use of tax havens. It will also allow a number of harmful tax regimes, which contributed to the Lux leaks and other well-known scandals, to remain in place until 2021.   Godfrey said: “This BEPS process was a false start. The views of some of the world worst corporate tax dodgers are clearly reflected in the action plan. The needs of poor countries were not because most were effectively shut out of the process.”   Oxfam demands the G20 support a new reform process that includes all countries on an equal footing and that urgently tackles the problems that have been ignored or insufficiently addressed by the BEPS process.   Godfrey said: “This tax package must mark the start not the end of global tax reform. We need a second generation of reforms that genuinely creates an international tax system which works in the interests of the majority – not the few”.   http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/reactions/oxfam-criticizes-toothless-oecd-tax-package Visit the related web page
	Millions at risk from climate change by CGIAR, IFAD, CARE International, agencies   Nov. 2015   UN warns world not prepared for consequences of severe drought   The head of the United Nations office for disaster risk reduction has warned the world is not prepared for the consequences of severe drought.   Margareta Wahlstrom is the special representative of the UN secretary-general for disaster risk reduction.   She said of all the hazards, drought was the most complex because it was difficult to model.   "Most countries in the world still suffer badly in drought — even rich countries," she said. "It''s an area where we are not quite well prepared. "I don''t think the world has quite yet settled down to realise this is the way it''s going to be."   "So how to deal with drought is a very important policy area and the anticipation, what measures are put in place is a really big issue."   A report released this week in the journal Nature Climate Change warned that if carbon dioxide emissions continued at their current rate, areas of the Persian Gulf could become virtually uninhabitable.   Ms Wahlstrom said eventually people may have to abandon areas.   "The advice to us today in heatwaves is drink more water, stay indoors, don''t move too quickly — but that''s obviously not enough," she said.   "We can see some of the impacts now with these very long heatwaves. In fact in Europe the deadliest disaster in many decades was a heatwave ... which had such a serious human impact in France, western Europe and a few years later in Russia.   "This year we''ve seen heatwaves in India, Pakistan, the big cities — it''s very obvious that this is one of the most critical health and human impacts of climate change.   22 Oct 2015   El Nino brings drought, hunger to Indonesia and South Pacific.   Farming communities throughout Indonesia are struggling with drought as rising sea temperatures associated with this year’s El Nino weather phenomenon affect rainfall across the globe. Governments in Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Samoa report similar situations as the region struggles to cope with what is shaping up to be the worst El Nino event since 1997-1998, when the weather phenomenon caused sugarcane harvests to fail and closed schools in nations across the South Pacific.   Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency reported that, by the end of August, there were drought conditions in 84 provinces affecting some 22 million people. It warned that November’s onset of the rainy season would likely be delayed into next year.   The Indonesian government announced plans this month to resume rice imports by the end of the year as national rice stocks, battered by the drought and an increase in subsidised rice handouts for the poor, continued to drop. In a typical year, the planting season would already be under way, but in villages like Ketung Miri, fields remain fallow.   Indonesia’s poor and middle class remain particularly vulnerable to price shocks. According to World Bank data, nearly 100 million people hover around the poverty line. Nationwide, the UN World Food Programme estimates that 37 percent of children under the age of five are chronically malnourished.   “I am concerned about what might happen if the rains don’t come,” said Anthea Webb, the WFP representative in Indonesia. “This is such a big country with such an important rice culture that if there are impacts on production when prices are already very high, I would be very worried about the nutritional situation, which is quite precarious compared to other countries in the region.”   Webb said she was most concerned about those living in the Indonesian archipelago’s underdeveloped eastern provinces like East and West Nusa Tenggara where many of the country’s most vulnerable people live. “They tend to have difficulty meeting their own needs when production is at the best of times,” she said.   The situation is worse in the island nations of the South Pacific, according to the regional office of the UN emergency aid coordination body OCHA.   It’s been at least two months since rain fell in most affected South Pacific countries, raising concerns that the region may be in need of long-term humanitarian aid throughout the coming year, explained Sune Gudnitz, regional Pacific office head of OCHA.   “That is a long time for a community to go without water or food crops,” Gudnitz said. “Communities, governments and humanitarian partners need to prepare now for a long road ahead.”   Countries in Southern Africa and Central America are also experiencing deteriorating weather conditions impacting millions of people. Small holder farmers feed some 2 billion people worldwide.   14 October 2015   Targeted policies and investments in food security and agriculture should be at the centre of discussions on climate change, according to the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) José Graziano da Silva, who warned that failure to do so would unravel progress made in combating world hunger.   The FAO Director-General noted the international community’s recent adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes the eradication of hunger and extreme poverty. He emphasized that, in order to achieve these goals, agriculture and food systems that are more productive and adapted to climate change are needed.   “We can take actions towards ending extreme poverty and hunger,” said Mr. Da Silva. “We know what works and we have the tools for it, but we know climate change threatens to derail our efforts. It is already impacting on food security and making hunger eradication even more difficult.”   “We believe that agriculture in the broad sense can and must play a central role in addressing climate change, particularly in adapting its impacts, such as water scarcity, soil salinity or increasing pests and diseases of plants and animals,” he added.   Mr. da Silva said that the world’s poorest and most vulnerable are the hardest hit by the droughts and floods caused by global warming. He also noted the additional challenges faced by family farmers, fishermen and community foresters, who were both highly dependent on the world’s natural resources and also the first to suffer due to climate-related shocks: “they are the least responsible for climate change and cannot be expected to bear the costs of adaption to climate change,” he said.   He called for policies and investments to adapt agriculture to climate change, including reducing deforestation and overfishing, improving soil fertility and achieving lower emissions.   Invest in farmers in the developing world says the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)   Nothing unites us like our universal need for food. With a growing worldwide population and a warming climate, future food security is under threat.   Despite development gains in recent years, around 800 million people still go to bed hungry every night, and some 700 million survive on less than $1.90 a day. More than 70 per cent of them live in rural areas and mainly depend on agriculture.   Without action, climate change will devastate smallholder farmers, who will be affected by greater risks, from rising sea levels to more frequent storms and droughts.   Ahead of the UN’s Paris Climate Change Summit (COP21) in December, IFAD is asking country negotiators to ensure that any agreement on climate change does not leave out smallholder farmers.   IFAD is urging negotiators to agree to a fair climate deal, which supports country level action to reduce smallholder farmers’ climate vulnerability.   Adapting to climate change not only protects rural economies from the impacts of climate change but can also increase farmers’ productivity and incomes.   How can country negotiators make the change at COP21?   By committing more climate finance to smallholder farmers to help them adapt through investments such as all-weather roads, flash flood early warning systems, and planting drought- and saline-tolerant seeds.   By recognizing the positive impact on food security that smallholder farmers have, and protecting those on the front line of climate change.   The stakes have never been higher for smallholder farmers. Now is the time for action on climate change.   October 2015   Climate change threatens to put hundreds of millions of people at risk of hunger unless food system inequalities are tackled along with climate change, say NGOs.   Climate change threatens to put hundreds of millions people – mostly women and children – at risk of hunger unless inequalities in the food system are tackled simultaneously with climate change.   A Cultivating Equality: Delivering Just and Sustainable Food Systems in a Changing Climate – shows how inequality determines who eats first and who eats worst, and how this shapes people’s ability to adapt to climate change. Food Tank, CARE International and CCAFS argue that solutions around food production are not enough, and demand more dialogue and action to address inequality in food systems.   “The impacts of climate change are felt most by those least responsible for the problem and with the least capacity to adapt. Efforts to address hunger and malnutrition in the context of climate change must address inequality in food systems at all levels,” says Tonya Rawe, Senior Advisor for Policy and Research for CARE International.   “As governments work to realise the targets of the new Global Goals for Sustainable Development, they must ensure that the needs, interests, and rights of women and small-scale food producers are not forgotten. The first step is to make sure we get a just climate change agreement from the UN climate talks in Paris this December.”   “Sustainability and equity must be the foundation for tackling climate change, hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Women make up nearly 50 percent of farmers in developing regions of the world, and are responsible for almost 90 percent of food preparation in the household,” says Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank.   “But globally, only about 15 percent of all landholders are women. Their limited access to technology, financial resources, and land not only represents an unfair distribution of resources, but also limits agricultural productivity by suppressing the abilities of half the world’s farmers.”   “The needs of smallholder farmers, including women, need to be at the foundation of climate change solutions,” says Dr. Bruce Campbell, who leads the CCAFS program. “We know that new technologies and practices for tackling climate change will be adopted more successfully when they are appropriate to women’s interests, resources and demands. We should also recognise and support women’s capacity as farmers and innovators.”   The new report examines how well climate-smart agriculture, sustainable intensification, and agroecology address inequality and enable small-scale food producers and women to lift themselves out of poverty. Food Tank, CARE, and CCAFS offer guidance and recommendations on how to achieve food and nutrition security for all in a changing climate.   http://careclimatechange.org/publications/cultivating-equality-report/ http://www.ifad.org/events/change/index.htm http://ccafs.cgiar.org/blog http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/en/ http://www.landcoalition.org/en/blog/cfs-high-level-forum-evokes-key-role-markets-smallholders-misses-critical-references-land http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2015/pr-climate-change-cost-102115.html http://www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-response-to-paris-climate?lang=en http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-2016/   “Climate change is the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century,” says Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization.   “The evidence is overwhelming: climate change endangers human health,” Dr. Chan declared, citing the effects of extreme weather events, infectious diseases, diminishing water supplies, and food insecurity.   “Solutions exist and we need to act decisively to change this trajectory,” she stressed as she highlighted the importance of the United Nations climate conference this December in Paris.   “This may be the most important health event of the century,” said Chan, “an opportunity not only to reduce climate change and its consequences, but to promote actions that can yield large and immediate health benefits, and reduce costs to health systems and communities.”   “WHO calls on the global health community to add its voice to the call for a strong and effective climate agreement, that will save lives, both now and in the future,” she said.   “Health professionals have a duty of care to current and future generations,” she said.   “You are on the front line in protecting people from climate impacts – from more heat waves and other extreme weather events; from outbreaks of infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue and cholera; from the effects of malnutrition; as well as treating people that are affected by cancer, respiratory, cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases caused by environmental pollution.”   She pointed out that 2015 is already the hottest year on record.   The World Meteorological Organization said late last month that global mean temperatures near the Earth’s surface continued to set new records between 2011 and 2015, consistent with rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, according to preliminary findings of the assessment of the state of the climate in the current five years period.   In view of these findings and those of a host of other scientists, Dr. Chan today called for “a climate change agreement that promotes strong and effective action to limit climate change, and avoid unacceptable risks to global health.” Visit the related web page
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