Kirsty Hughes, Oxfam Head of Policy and Advocacy, said: “We welcome the Government’s commitment to help 50 million people in fragile states to escape poverty. But Oxfam is concerned that the Government should not ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’. Money should not be diverted from schools and health clinics to pay for police and security and justice spending.

“Building security in fragile states cannot be achieved by a focus on security and justice alone. It also requires social and economic development and health and education services are a central part of this.”

Co-branding DFID as ‘Ukaid’ aid must not come at the expense of security or poverty reduction, Oxfam said.

Hughes said: “Branding must be at the service of poverty reduction and not the other way around.

“The Government must adopt a safety-first approach. Ministers’ laudable desire to build support for UK aid must not be at the expense of the security of those who deliver it. In some of the world’s trouble spots, painting the union jack on UK-funded schools and hospitals would be like putting a target on them.”

Oxfam said it was pleased the Government had backed away from the World Bank’s dogmatic commitment to private healthcare.

Hughes said: “Imposing private sector solutions on developing countries is no way to provide free healthcare for all. Countries should be able to choose the approach that best fits their needs based on evidence of what works. For most that will mean investment in strong public healthcare.”

Oxfam also welcomed the Government’s commitment to securing a deal on climate change at Copenhagen in December.

Hughes said: “We welcome the Government taking the lead in offering to provide money to help poor people avoid the worst effects of climate change. The Government’s proposal is a big step in the right direction after months of global inaction

“Oxfam estimates that $150bn a year is needed and the UK ’s fair share is about $8bn. This money must be new and additional to existing aid commitments so as not to undermine crucial development objectives such as the Millennium Development Goals.”

Further information: Jon Slater 07876 476403

These, and many more lives and livelihoods are at risk unless urgent action is taken to protect poor people from the triple threat of the economic crisis, rising food prices and climate change. Sub Saharan Africa alone is expected to lose $245bn this year as a result of the global slump but will receive only about $5bn in additional aid.

Yet rather than delivering on his own aid promises and encouraging other countries to meet theirs, Silvio Berlusconi, G8 chair and Italian president is attempting to wriggle out of his commitments to the world’s poorest. He has cut aid and pushed the G8 to adopt a new ‘whole of country’ approach that would use creative accounting to hide broken promises.

Max Lawson, Oxfam senior policy advisor, said: “Like a modern day Nero, Berlusconi is fiddling while Africa burns. G8 leaders must get serious and ensure this Summit delivers a concrete plan to get aid promises back on track, and to protect poor people from the triple threat of the economic, food and climate crises.”

According to the OECD, G8 leaders will fall short by as much as $23bn in their 2005 promise to increase annual aid by $50bn over five years. Oxfam calculates this money could be used to pay for HIV treatment for 500,000, services for mothers and newborns that would save a further 2.5 million, child health services that would save a further 600,000 lives.

On average, rich countries outside the G8 give more than twice as much of their national income in overseas aid (0.54%), as G8 members (0.23%).

Farida Bena, Oxfam International Italian spokesperson, said: “It is time that G8 countries paid their fair share of aid to reduce poverty in Africa and elsewhere. Why can other rich countries put their hands in their pocket whilst most of the G8 refuses to do so? A G8 that refuses to keep its word, a G8 that fails to meet the unprecedented challenges facing the world’s poor­ - that is a G8 in crisis.”

Far from showing leadership in their role as G8 chair, Italy is cutting its aid to poor countries. Last year Italy cut their aid through the Foreign Affairs Ministry by a staggering 56%. France too has barely increased aid despite promises to do so and other countries are not bringing the ambition needed to the table this year - when it is most needed.

The ‘whole of country approach’ promoted by Berlusconi could allow countries to count money charities, philanthropists, companies and trade links deliver to developing countries as part of their assistance to poor countries. Adding these disparate elements to produce a large cash figure of little value would allow countries like Italy and France to deflect attention from their lamentable performance on aid.

Instead of muddying the waters with creative accounting, Oxfam is calling on the G8 to agree an emergency plan to get their aid commitments back on track ahead of the 2010 deadline. The need for increased aid is shown by the $245bn economic black hole facing Africa as a result of a reduction in expected growth from 6.7 per cent to 1 per cent. By contrast, aid will only increase by $4.6 billion this year, IMF special drawing rights and other measures agreed at the G20 add only another $16bn. This falls way short of what is needed.

Lawson said: “The world has a triple crisis on it hands. The economic crisis is destroying jobs, reducing remittances and forcing cuts in health and education services for some of the world’s poorest people. Africa is set to lose $245bn this year alone yet the response from rich countries remains pitifully small.

“The food crisis has pushed another 200 million people into hunger - more than one in six of the world’s people now do not have enough to eat. The climate crisis contributes to severe weather that is forces people from their homes and destroys their livelihoods every day.”

Bena said:”Over the next few days, the G8 must show the leadership the world needs - there won’t be any second chances to save these 3 million people later. The G8 cannot turn their back on the poorest people now - this must be a week of bold action.”

Further information:

In Italy

Caroline Hooper-Box + 1 202 321 2967 caroline.hooper-box@oxfaminternational.org

Gabriele Carchella: +39 320.4777895 gabriele.carchella@oxfaminternational.org

In UK

Jon Slater +44 (0)7876 476403, jslater@oxfam.org.uk

Find out more: 2009 G8 summit: what Oxfam is calling for

The report ‘Suffering the Science - Climate Change, People and Poverty’, is being published ahead of the G8 Summit in Italy, where climate change and food security are high on the agenda. Oxfam hopes that the bulk of human evidence presented in the report will push leaders to deliver a fair and safe climate deal before the end of the year, with emissions cuts of at least 40 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020 and $150 billion per year to fund emissions reduction and adaptation in the developing world.

The report combines the latest scientific observations on climate change, and evidence from the communities Oxfam works with in almost 100 countries around the world, to reveal how the burden of climate change is already hitting poor people hard.

The report warns that without immediate action 50 years of development gains are under threat with climate-related hunger being the defining human tragedy of this century unless urgent action is taken ahead of the UN Conference to renew the Kyoto Protocol in December.

Suffering the Science outlines evidence of how climate change is affecting every issue linked to poverty and development today including:

* HUNGER: New research based on interviews with farmers in fifteen countries across the world reveals how once-distinct seasons are shifting and rains are now disappearing. Poor farmers from Bangladesh to Uganda and Nicaragua, no longer able to rely on generations of farming experience, are facing failed harvest after failed harvest. Rice and maize, two of the world’s most important crops on which hundreds of millions depend, particularly in Asia, the Americas and Africa, face significant drops in yields even under even milder climate change scenarios.  Maize yields are forecast to drop by 15 per cent or more by 2020 in much of sub-Saharan Africa and in most of India. Scientists in the region are now saying that Africa should prepare to see a 50 per cent drop in all cereal yields by 2080.

* HEALTH: Diseases such as malaria and dengue fever that were once geographically bound are creeping to new areas where populations lack immunity or the knowledge and healthcare infrastructure to cope with them. It is estimated that climate change has contributed to an average of 150,000 more deaths from disease per year since the 1970s, with over half of those happening in Asia and 85 % of them are children.

* LABOUR: Rising temperatures will make it impossible for people to work at the same rate on hot summer days without serious health impacts with huge ramifications for laborers paid by the hour and the wider economy. Cities such as Delhi could see a drop in worker productivity by as much as 30 percent.

* WATER: Water supplies are becoming so acutely challenged that several major cities including Kathmandu and La Paz which are dependent on the Himalayan and Andes glaciers may soon be unable to function.

* DISASTERS: Disasters including mega fires and storms are on the rise and could triple by 2030. A record $165 billion was lost in the 2005 hurricane season alone and the insurance industry says that climate change will make the situation worse, particularly for poor people who have no access to insurance.

* DISPLACEMENT: An estimated 26 million people have been displaced as a direct result of climate change and each year a million more are displaced by weather related events. Island communities from Vanuatu, Tuvalu and the Bay of Bengal have already been forced to move because of sea level rise.

*TRADE: Across the world the effects of climate change on agriculture will be grossly unbalanced.  It is estimated that whilst US agricultural profits are set to rise by $1.3bn per year because of climate change, sub Saharan Africa alone will lose $2bn per year as the viability of just one crop, maize, declines.

“Climate change is happening here and now and the world’s poorest people are being hit the hardest, said Oxfam CEO Barbara Stocking. “The overwhelming bulk of evidence, from every corner of the globe, is right in front of our eyes and cannot be ignored. Finding a solution to climate change cannot be left to our grandchildren.  We have to face up to the challenges that are bearing down on poor people and for many 2009 is the most important year in human history.”

Many scientists are now skeptical that the world can limit global warming to 2°C because they do not believe that politicians are willing to agree the necessary cuts in carbon emissions, the report says. Two degrees is considered to be “economically acceptable” to rich countries however it would still mean a devastating future for 660 million people.

Professor Diana Liverman, a contributor to three IPCC Assessment Reports and a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee which advises the US government on climate change, said: “If we do not make deep cuts in emissions now the changing climate will bring heat stress, sea level rise and more extreme drought and floods. Scientific observations tell us that the world is already warming and many of the most vulnerable people are starting to experience the impacts of climate change.  Organisations like Oxfam can try and help people adapt to climate change but without a serious effort to reduce warming, and in the absence of international funds for adaptation, the food, water, health and livelihoods of millions of people will be at risk.”

Oxfam is calling for G8 leaders to take personal responsibility for delivering a fair and adequate global deal to tackle climate change as only political commitment at the highest level can prevent a human catastrophe.

“G8 leaders, who represent the world’s richest polluting countries, must do the right thing and deliver a global climate deal this December that has the needs of the world’s poorest people at its heart,” said Stocking.

Read the report ‘Suffering the Science - Climate Change, People and Poverty’

Oxfam and climate change

Celebrities and authors volunteer in their local Oxfam shop to launch Bookfest

Celebrities and authors including Bill Nighy, Alexei Sayle, Monica Ali, Joanna Trollope, Phillip Pullman and Mark Haddon will this week launch the first annual Oxfam Bookfest - the first nationwide book festival, running from 4 to 18 July in hundreds of venues.

Nighy, Ali, Trollope and Haddon will be volunteering in the Marylebone High Street Oxfam bookshop on Monday 6 July, working behind the counter, sorting and pricing books and serving customers.

- Oxfam is Europe’s biggest high street retailer of second-hand books, and the third-biggest bookseller in the UK.

- The charity sells £1.6 million of books per month - enough to buy 50,000 emergency shelters, safe water for 2.1 million people, or 64,000 goats.

- Oxfam has more than 130 specialist bookshops and sells books in nearly all of its 700 shops.

The festival aims to fight poverty through a love of reading by asking readers to donate to and buy from Oxfam shops, and come along to one of the hundreds of Bookfest events. The average selling price for one book is £1.60. Twelve books would be enough to buy a emergency hygiene kit, while just four books could provide clean water for a family.

More than 280 book-related events will take place in bookshops and other venues around the country throughout the fortnight, featuring well-known authors from all over the UK. The events take in everything from author readings and poetry competitions to quizzes, auctions and even ghost walks, in venues from local Oxfam bookshops to the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

Actor Bill Nighy said: “Oxfam Bookfest is such a wonderful idea. As a book lover and a long-term Oxfam supporter, I am so pleased to support the initiative - it will give everyone a chance to find a bargain and raise lots of money at the same time. I’d encourage everyone to get down to their local Oxfam bookshop, find out about their local Bookfest event or even donate any unwanted books they have. I’ll definitely be hunting for my own bargains during the fortnight.”

Author Phillip Pullman, who will volunteer in the Oxford bookshop on 4 July, said:

“As someone who’s shopped in Oxfam bookshops and supported Oxfam’s work for years, I was delighted to hear about Bookfest, which is a brilliant idea. It will give book lovers all over the country the chance to indulge their deepest passion while helping to change lives for the better.”

Four volumes of short stories called Ox-Tales, featuring 38 of the UK’s top authors, will be published in July to raise money for Oxfam’s work around the world. Available in bookstores from 4 July and published by Profile Books, they feature original stories from writers including John Le Carré, Alexander McCall Smith, Joanna Trollope, Ian Rankin, Mark Haddon, Helen Fielding, Jonathan Coe, Rose Tremain, DBC Pierre, Sebastian Faulks and Kate Atkinson.

Other authors who will be volunteering in their local Oxfam bookshop during Bookfest include:

- Esther Freud: Highgate, London (8 July)

- Jonathan Coe & William Sutcliffe: Bloomsbury Street, London (9 July)

- Hanif Kureishi: Portobello Road, London (10 July)

- Nicholas Shakespeare: St Giles, Oxford (11 July)

- Kamila Shamsie: Bloomsbury Street, London (16 July)

David McCullough, Oxfam’s director of trading, said:

“Book sales have been helping us in our fight against poverty for more than fifty years, as we’ve sold everything from the first ever Sherlock Holmes story to the latest Harry Potter novel. During Bookfest, we want people to donate to and buy from our bookshops so they can really see the impact that buying a book from Oxfam can have on the lives of poor people around the world.”

Author Joanna Trollope, who contributes a story to the Ox-Tales books, said:

“I have an Oxfam shop close by and I am constantly impressed by the appeal of the windows, the rapid turnover of stock, and the staff are all charming too. It is such a good way to buy books, which are, after all, for sharing. Why would we writers write them, after all, if it weren’t to communicate?”

This year, for the first time, Oxfam also teamed up with the Hay Festival for its biggest ever charity partnership. The Oxfam prize at Hay was awarded to travel essayist Jan Morris, who was chosen by her peers at the festival itself. The Hay Oxfam Emerging Writers Prize was presented to Fflur Dafydd for her first book Twenty Thousand Saints. The Hay Festival is also working with festivals across the country, from Edinburgh to Brighton, staging 35 high-profile author events during July for Oxfam Bookfest.

-Ends-

For more information and to arrange interviews with any of the celebrities or authors, please contact:

Stuart Fowkes

01865 472254 / 07818 406038 / sfowkes@oxfam.org.uk

To download audio clips, high-res images, B-roll video footage and more for media use, please visit www.oxfam.org.uk/books/press

For more information on Ox-Tales, please contact:

Ruth Killick

0207 841 6307 / 07880 703741 / ruth.killick@profilebooks.com

Notes to editors

- The first bookshop was opened in St Giles, Oxford, in 1987.

- The most Oxfam has raised from a single book is £18,000, for a 17^th century economic treatise in 2005, and also for a rare Graham Greene book in 2008*. Both books were sold at auction.

- Volunteers in the Harrogate shop spotted the very first appearance in print of Sherlock Holmes (A Study in Scarlet) in a Victorian annual - it was auctioned for £15,500.

- The average price of a second hand book from an Oxfam shop is £1.60

- Our bookshops make on average 21% more than regular Oxfam shops.

- Oxfam raised £19million in 2008 through the sale of books, 49% of which came from specialist bookshops.

- Oxfam’s shop network is supported by over 21,000 volunteers.

- Oxfam shops are the only place on the high street where you can pick up everything from the latest Harry Potter novel or Jamie Oliver cookery book through to rare first editions and hidden treasures hundreds of years old.

You can find out more about Oxfam and books at www.oxfam.org.uk/books

They will represent a coalition of organisations who oppose new dirty coal at Kingsnorth because of the devastating effect climate change is already having on poor people around the world. Current plans to test carbon capture and storage would only capture 20% of emissions, meaning that 6 million tonnes would still be pumped into the atmosphere every year, the equivalent of the total emissions of 25 developing countries.

The coalition, which includes Oxfam, the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, the RSPB, and the Woodcraft Folk, believe approval of the plans will derail hopes of securing a fair and safe deal to tackle climate change at the UN climate negotiations in December. The decision on whether Kingsnorth should go ahead - expected later this year - is a test case as to how serious the UK government is in matching its actions with its rhetoric to take urgent action in cutting emissions and avoiding runaway climate change.

Campaigns and Policy Director Phil Bloomer said: “Building a new coal-fired plant at Kingsnorth amounts to a fatal game of Russian roulette for the millions of people around the world whose lives are already being devastated by climate change. They need solutions and it is rich countries like the UK that must lead the way in providing them - not continue in a blinkered business as usual manner. Kingsnorth does not need to go ahead to test CCS and it is time for people’s lives to take precedence over narrow business interest.

“The Mili-Band is an opportunity for people to demonstrate their opposition to the plans in a peaceful way and to represent the swathe of public opposition felt up and down the country.”

The Mili-Band will be part of a fete, where Sam Duckworth of Get Cape Wear Cape Fly and Ugandan world music star Geoffrey Oryema will be performing on stage. EastEnders favourite Nina Wadia (Zainab Masood) will compere.

Millions of poor people around the world are living on the frontline of climate change with increasingly unpredictable seasons and more frequent and intense weather patterns. Coal poses the greatest threat to their future, being the dirtiest fossil fuel and accounting for more than half CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. Ed Miliband has the chance to turn his back on a generation of new coal or commit millions more people to the impacts of climate change for generations to come.

Deborah Doane, director at the World Development Movement said: “Emissions from a new Kingsnorth plant alone could force 20,000 more people from their homes to become refugees and 50,000 more people to go hungry because of drought and lower crop yields.  For the UK government to ignore this fact, is an injustice on an unprecedented scale, and that’s why Kingsnorth must not go ahead without capturing all of its carbon emissions from the start.”

Susan Nash, vice president society and citizenship at the National Union of Students said: “Climate change is the biggest challenge facing our generation. Plans for a new coal fired power station at Kingsnorth represent a serious threat to the lives and futures of young people in the UK and beyond.”

Kit Jones, young trustee of Woodcraft Folk, added: “We reject new coal at Kingsnorth. My generation doesn’t want to be defined by fossil fuel dependency as previous ones have. Instead we are excited by sustainable alternatives that will really help protect the lives of millions of the poorest people around the world. We know these work because we’ve played with them - but you can’t “play” with six million tonnes of CO2 or a host of other harmful gases.”

Ruth Davis, the RSPB’s Head of Climate Change Policy, said: “Emissions from coal plants are a major cause of climate change, which is killing coral reefs and melting glaciers and is behind the death from starvation of thousands of seabirds around the UK’s coasts this year.

“Without dramatic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, we are facing the collapse of many of the world’s ecosystems, including its tropical forests; the extinction of more than half its species; and untold misery for millions of people.

“The Government knows this and it is astonishing that it is still considering consenting coal fired power stations that don’t capture all their CO2 emissions.”

Ruth Bond, NFWI Chair said: “The WI believes that 2009 is a vitally important year for our planet. The Government needs to show the same commitment to tackle climate change in December’s UN talks that WI members have shown in their own homes. By not building Kingsnorth, the government will make it clear that they can take the tough decisions needed to tackle climate change.”

Notes to Editors:

• Interviews, images and further information are available by contacting Lucy Brinicombe, 01865 472192 / 07786 110054 / lbrinicombe@oxfam.org.uk. Sam Duckworth is available for interview prior to the event, as well as on the day with Nadia Wadia. Please get in touch if you would like to interview either beforehand so arrangements can be made.
• Journalists and photographers are welcome to attend. You should arrive at Hoo Village Institute, 25 Main Road, Hoo, ME3 9AA at 11am so that you can carry out interviews and be taken to the site for photographs of the Mili-Band and further interviews.

 Facts: 

• Global emissions need to peak and start to decline by 2015 if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change. This is also when E.on plans to have a new coal-fired plant operating at Kingsnorth and when the Millennium Development Goals should be met. Climate change is already hindering progress in meeting these goals.
• For example, the international community agreed in 2000 to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty by 2015. However, climate change is already responsible for forcing 50m more people to go hungry and driving 10 million more people into extreme poverty.
• The average number of people affected by climate-related disasters could increase by 52% to 375 million by 2015
• Every year climate change leaves over 300,000 people dead, 325 million people seriously affected and economic losses of US$125 billion.
• E.ON has an opportunity to turn its business and its emissions story around: in 2015, nearly half of its generating capacity will be lost as outdated plants close
• We do not need Kingsnorth to test CCS. We can test pre-combustion CCS, capturing 90% of emissions from day one. If we want to test post-combustion CCS - the technology that would be tested on Kingsnorth - we could do so on the existing plant: Longannet. Only if this technology is proven to capture all emissions should Kingsnorth be considered.
• 6 million tonnes of CO2 that Kingsnorth is projected to emit falls just below Panama’s total annual emissions at 6.1 million tones.
• The 25 developing countries include Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and the Solomon Islands.

The Mili-Band is organised by a coalition of organisations in the UK who are concerned about the devastating human impact of climate change and who thereby oppose dirty coal at Kingsnorth. The organisations involved are: Oxfam, the World Development Movement, People and Planet, The National Federation of Women’s Institutes, Christian Aid, Woodcraft Folk, RSPB, The National Union of Students and Avaaz. The coalition is grateful to Greenpeace for their support.

All organisations are members of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition.

Over 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes so far this year as a result of significant increasing violence in DR Congo, Sudan and Somalia, international agency Oxfam said today, as heads of state gather at the AU Summit in Libya to discuss peace and security across the continent.

At the last AU Summit, in January 2009, leaders failed to address these ongoing conflicts or take measures to protect civilians from violence and suffering, Oxfam said. Since then, violence in eastern DRC, south-central Somalia and southern Sudan has escalated even further and countless more lives have been destroyed. The rest of the international community has been equally ineffective

“Every minute of every day since AU leaders last met has seen the equivalent of a family of five made homeless by these conflicts. The AU must unequivocally condemn such suffering. It is unacceptable that right now African women continue to be raped, men killed, families torn apart and the lives of generations of children are shattered,” said Desire Assogbavi, Oxfam’s Senior Africa Policy Analyst .

Oxfam called on the AU to put renewed emphasis on sustainable diplomatic and political solutions to these conflicts, rather than military actions that bring yet more death and misery for civilians, such as this year’s offensives in DR Congo and northern Uganda. It said the AU had in the past played a key role in forging the peace agreement between northern and southern Sudan, which although now facing serious challenges, demonstrates what can be achieved when there is sufficient political will.

DR Congo has seen the highest levels of displacement since the start of the year. Up to 800,000 people in eastern DRC have fled as a result of a new UN-backed military offensive by the Congolese army, which began in January and has led to numerous reprisal attacks by FDLR rebels. Terrified communities have told Oxfam staff of widespread rape, and burning and looting of villages in North and South Kivu.

“The AU must tell the Congolese government that such massive suffering will not be tolerated. While FDLR atrocities must be addressed, government troops are also committing unacceptable human rights violations,” said Assogbavi.

In the past six months, southern Sudan has seen some of the worst violence and displacement since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Around 200,000 people have fled increasingly deadly conflicts linked to tribal clashes, cattle raids and North-South tensions. Meanwhile, Darfur remains the scene of one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises, and the ongoing conflict has displaced at least 140,000 people so far this year – most fleeing to already severely overcrowded camps, and now receiving even less aid following the recent expulsion of humanitarian agencies.

“With the peace agreement looking increasingly fragile, urgent diplomatic attention is needed. AU governments played a key role in forging the peace deal - they must now help keep it alive. A return to war would have devastating consequences not only for Sudan but all its neighbours,” said Assogbavi.

Tens of thousands more people have also been made homeless in northern DR Congo and southern Sudan by ongoing attacks from northern Uganda’s Lords Resistance Army. A joint military offensive against the LRA launched in late 2008 has failed to halt its attacks on civilians.

In Somalia, 160,000 people have fled the capital Mogadishu since May, after an upsurge in fighting between the Transitional Federal Government and opposition groups and militia. Most are sheltering in vast camps around the city, where conditions are dire as deteriorating security makes it harder than ever for aid agencies to reach people in need. Oxfam called on the AU to urge all parties to the conflict to respect international law, cease fighting in populated areas, and allow the safe delivery of aid.

“Peace and security in Africa has made great strides forward over the past decade – there are now fewer conflicts across the continent, and African peacekeepers have intervened to protect civilians. However, the ongoing humanitarian suffering and conflicts in these three countries are delivering a fatal blow to the hopes of a peaceful and prosperous future for Africa. The AU must step up and challenge those that are responsible, and say that enough is enough,” said Assogbavi.

More information on Oxfam’s work in: DR Congo | South Sudan | Somalia

Released on the eve of the Summit, “Investing in Poor Farmers Pays: Rethinking How to Invest in Agriculture” warns that under-investment and bad agricultural policies by African governments and international donors have exacerbated chronic poverty and hunger for tens of millions of Africans. 60% of all Africans live in rural agricultural areas, while the urban poor are also increasingly facing food crises and malnutrition.

Oxfam welcomed the AU’s decision to make agriculture this Summit’s theme. It said that local communities must have a greater say in shaping the policies that affect their lives if real change was to occur.

Lamine Ndiaye, head of Oxfam’s Pan Africa programme for Economic Justice, said:
“One in three Africans is now affected by food crises. Investing in agriculture is part of the long-term solution to the food, financial and climate crises. The economic collapse is changing the way that people suffer from hunger – food is available but it simply costs too much for millions of people to afford. AU leaders must commit to more investment in small-scale African agriculture to break the current dependency on the global market.”

Oxfam urged African governments to meet the commitments they made at the 2003 AU Summit in Maputo to allocate a minimum of 10% of national budgets for agriculture, and more for rural development. Only seven countries have since reached this modest target. Most African governments are averaging only about 4.5%. Yet investing in agriculture pays for itself by reducing poverty, reducing dependency and stimulating local markets, Oxfam’s report finds.

International donors have also failed to live up to their commitments to poor African farmers. Just over $1 billion of the $12 billion that donors committed last year to help poor countries cope with the global food crisis has so far reached the ground. Bad donor policies, such as forced liberalisation of local markets and support for large-scale agricultural projects instead of small-scale community farmers, have also undermined African agriculture. While spending on agriculture in poor countries has decreased over the past twenty years, the US spent $41 billion and the EU $130 billion on its domestic agricultural markets in 2007.

Lamine Ndiaye said: “This Summit must mark a new era for African farmers. Small-scale agriculture is the backbone of most African economies, the largest contributor to many countries’ GDP, and is absolutely integral to African development. Yet for decades, our own governments and the international community have repeatedly neglected and under-invested in agriculture and rural development. Many farmers work in harsh, remote environments with inadequate access to markets and basic services such as water, land, healthcare and education.”

Oxfam’s report argues that additional investment must also be spent more wisely. Climate change is one of the biggest long-term challenges facing Africa, with desertification and drought devastating many rural areas. Community farmers manage some of the most degraded and fragile lands, and effective investment must aim to promote environmental sustainability. Marginalised and impoverished areas also need particular support.

“Investing in agriculture goes hand in hand with addressing the marginalisation of entire sectors of African society. Rural development is badly needed in areas without schools and healthcare, and among pastoralist communities. Women play a vital role in the agricultural economy yet are hampered from reaching full potential by low rates of literacy, nutrition and civil rights, and the impact of HIV/AIDS. Securing land rights for women and empowering women farmers would mark a major step forward,” said Lamine Ndiaye.

Investing in Poor Farmers Pay: Read the report

Rising food prices have pushed a further 100 million people into poverty this year - a situation that is likely to escalate further as economic recovery in rich countries pushes up fuel prices and climate change disrupts agriculture in many developing countries.

The report, Investing in Poor Farmers Pays: Rethinking How to Invest in Agriculture demonstrates how complacency throughout the 1990s led to a 75% drop in developing country agriculture aid, fundamentally weakening this vital sector. When a combination of factors saw global food prices sky-rocket last year, poor countries could not cope.

The report also reveals that two-thirds of the world’s rural poor have been overlooked by what little investments have been made.  More - and wiser - investment is needed, the agency said.

Oxfam is calling on G8 leaders to tackle the worsening food crisis by increasing agricultural spending when they meet at their annual summit in Italy next month.

Duncan Green, Oxfam Head of Research, said: “The failure of rich donors to invest in farming in developing countries has been a major contributor to the current food crisis that has left one in six people in the world without enough to eat.

“More than 200 million more people have been pushed into hunger since the food crisis began and with fuel and food prices increasing again, G8 leaders need to take urgent action to prevent the situation getting much worse.

“A substantial increase in financing for farmers is loose change compared to ongoing investments in rich countries or the trillions of dollars spent globally this year on bank bail-outs.”

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns the number of hungry people will increase by a further 100 million this year to more than 1 billion or one in six of the world’s population. This comes on top of an increase of 119 million in the number of hungry people caused by food price rises in 2007-8. After falling at the end of 2008, prices began increasing again in February.

Oxfam’s report notes that some rich countries have of course not neglected their own farmers. In 2007 alone, agricultural spending in the EU was $130 billion and in the US $41 billion. By contrast, small increases in agricultural aid did little to reverse previous cuts.

Seventy percent of the world’s poor depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, but existing investments have by-passed two-thirds of them, according to the report. This is especially true for farmers in marginalized areas, who often work in harsh and remote environments with inadequate access to markets and services for extension, credit and farming inputs, and fewer off-farm sources of employment.

New investments in agriculture must invest in people, particularly women, using their social and knowledge capital and enabling them to adopt environmentally sustainable farming methods.

Green said: “Women are key to food security. Investing in women’s needs and building their capacity to productively engage in agriculture must be at the forefront any solution to improve agricultural growth and reduce poverty.”

Investing in Poor Farmers Pay: Read the report

Further information: Jon Slater 01865 472249/07876 476403/ jslater@oxfam.org.uk

On Wednesday 1 July an ambulance will deliver a prescription for immediate action to DFID, which will be received by Mike Foster MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development. The petition will arrive on a stretcher, carried by campaigners dressed as paramedics, and will call for the UK government to act as a champion for health care for all and encourage the international community and particularly the World Bank to:

- Invest in free public health services in developing countries

- Invest in 4.25 million more health professionals worldwide

- Stop promoting risky and ineffective private health care services

Anna Marriott, Oxfam Policy Advisor, said: “Poor people worldwide are being asked to pay for health care they simply can’t afford. Every day 1400 women die needlessly in childbirth and three quarters of people infected with the HIV virus go without life-saving drugs.

“Oxfam research shows that the best way to ensure quality essential healthcare for all is through publicly funded, publicly provided services. Despite this, the UK government and particularly the World Bank continue to push for more money to be spent on unproven and risky private health services that won’t deliver for poor people.

“The UK government should be championing public health services and not the private sector. People must be put before profits.”

Such policies go against the demands of the UK public, who, in a recent survey*, rated free public health care for poor countries their number one priority for health aid.

Barbara Stocking, Chief Executive of Oxfam and Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary will also be hosting a seminar with Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development, on July 2. The seminar, at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, will bring together a small number of experts to explore the evidence available on the impact of private sector health care delivery in poor countries on important essential performance indicators including equity, efficiency and accountability.

Ends/

For more information please contact: Sarah Dransfield, press officer, 01865 472269/ 07767 085636 sdransfield@oxfam.org.uk

Notes to Editors: To download a copy of Oxfam’s report: Blind Optimism: Challenging the myths about private health care in poor countries

Health and Education For All campaign

*YouGov poll commissioned by Oxfam. Total sample size was 2007 GB adults (aged 18+). Fieldwork was undertaken between 24th - 26th March 2009.

Oxfam’s Chief Executive Barbara Stocking said:
“We desperately need a deal agreed at the end of this year to avert irreversible climate change, but negotiations have gone nowhere in 18 months. The Prime Minister’s proposal could give a welcome kickstart to negotiations if other country leaders rise to the challenge. Ultimately, if catastrophe is to be avoided and the poorest people protected, we need more money and need it sooner. Rich countries must now come forward with the necessary upfront funding for a fair and safe deal.”

Oxfam estimates that at least $150bn of finance per year must be made available for developing countries for a safe deal to be possible. Oxfam calculates the UK ’s fair share of this to be 5.4 percent. This money must be new and additional to existing aid commitments so as not to undermine crucial development objectives such as the Millennium Development Goals. The Prime Minister’s proposals to raise $100bn by 2020, of which no more than $10bn should be diverted from aid, would not provide the level of immediate help that the world’s most vulnerable people need.

Developed countries are most responsible for causing climate change and have the resources to respond to the challenge. But it is in developing countries – those least responsible, but where most future emissions growth will occur – that the impacts of climate change are being felt first and worst. As part of a global climate deal, rich countries must therefore commit to help poor countries move onto low carbon paths of development, and provide funding to help the poor adapt to climate change that is already unavoidable. Without such a financing commitment, a deal to curb global emissions will be impossible, and until now, nothing has been forthcoming.

“Climate change is a problem caused by the rich world but borne overwhelmingly by the poor. It is simply wrong that any solution should involve plundering aid money - even if only 10 percent of it. If Paul needs money it should not be taken from Peter,” Stocking added.

The agency however welcomed the Prime Minister’s proposals to raise finance from the international maritime and aviation sectors and his backing of  the Norwegian proposal which would raise money predictably through the sale of international emissions permits.

Oxfam and climate change

Climate change: sign up to sort it

Contact: Jen Corlew on +44 (0) 7879 255 705 / +44 (0) 7748 761 999 or jcorlew@oxfam.org.uk

www.oxfam.org.uk

The fantastic portraits, shot exclusively by legendary photographer Rankin, kick off Oxfam’s climate change campaign across the festival season, and also feature Editors’ Tom Smith, The View, Luke Pritchard from The Kooks, VV Brown and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.

The photos launch a campaign that goes far beyond any previous festival appeal. Oxfam is asking thousands of festival-goers across the summer to paint themselves blue as part of a massive visual statement to the UK government to take action on climate change before it’s too late.

Little Boots, who is performing three times at Glastonbury this year, said:
“Doing nothing is not the answer to fighting climate change. Go blue, demand that the prime minister takes the lead in protecting the people of this beautiful planet and kiss goodbye to climate change. If everyone does their bit we can save the planet.”

Glastonbury legend Fatboy Slim, who has performed at the festival for the last 12 years, said:
“I love the idea of people painting their faces blue for climate change at festivals this summer. It’s a fun way to get people engaged in a more serious issue. Even my son Woody will get a blue paintjob for the occasion! I’m sure people will have a great time being inventive about what they should paint. Hopefully it won’t rain or we’ll have fields of blue paint and maybe even blue cows!”

A video of the celebrity photo shoot will debut on the big screens at the Pyramid Stage during the festival, showing how Rankin captured Oxfam’s most ambitious celebrity photo campaign since the famous Make Trade Fair ‘dumping’ pictures in 2005.

The blue faces campaign marks Oxfam’s sixteenth year at Glastonbury. Since 1993 Oxfam has signed up the support of 400,000 people for their campaigns at Glastonbury, raised £2.7 million through volunteers’ stewarding and £522,000 through Oxfam stalls on-site.

This year Mrs Jones (stylist to The Killers, Kylie, Scissor Sisters) will be re-styling Oxfam’s 2 on-site stalls. There will also be a “Be the Band” makeover stand in The Park where fans can dress as the artist they’d most like to be. has 80 campaigners at Glastonbury. Oxfam will have 1950 stewards at Glastonbury, raising a minimum of £200,000 for Oxfam. There will also be 80 campaigners.

More than 70,000 new supporters signed up to Oxfam’s ‘I Count’ campaign in 2007, to stop climate chaos.

The blue faces petition will be presented to the UK government ahead of December’s critical climate change summit in Copenhagen, with Oxfam calling for a global deal that keeps carbon emissions at a safe level, and offers fair support to the millions of people in developing countries already suffering the effects of climate change.

Download high-res versions of all of the images

For more information contact:
Rose Marsh
rmarsh@oxfam.org.uk
07789 075522
01865 472375

Alexander Woollcombe
awoollcombe@oxfam.org.uk
07919 352358

Other celebrity quotes in support of the campaign:

“Cover yourself in blue paint, scream till you’re blue in the face, talk to your MP, talk to your mum, recycle, walk more, sign a petition. Festivals are about reminding yourself what it means to be a human being and there are millions of people out there who are already up against it in the face of climate change. I can’t stand people telling me what to do so if you don’t want to cover yourself in blue paint then don’t- but do something else instead to put an end to this madness now.” - VV Brown

“Most of us are lucky enough to not notice the effects of climate change yet. But it is already becoming real for people in less fortunate places in this world. You can do something like me, paint yourself and stick two fingers up to those standing in the way of change.” - Luke from The Kooks

“Climate change affects us all, and if we, me and you both don’t do something about it now it will affect generations to come. Do something now and demand an end to climate change.” - Kyle Falconer from The View

“This is the choice: either one: world leaders protect us all from climate change and we cheer or two: they don’t, we feel a little bit stupid having hung out in blue paint - but then we get the chance to vent our disgust at the ballot box.” - Sam Duckworth from Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.

The statement comes as Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangarai is set to arrive in the UK tomorrow (19 June) for meetings with the British Prime Minister next week.  

Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic killed 4,282 people and infected more than 98,000, but the conditions that caused the epidemic to flourish remain.  The University of Zimbabwe has no running water and the majority of Zimbabweans are living in neighbourhoods with broken water and sewage systems.  

Barbara Stocking, Oxfam’s Chief Executive, who visited Zimbabwe in April, said: “Cholera will surge when this year’s rainy season hits if Zimbabwe’s broken water and sewage systems are not repaired now. This was the worst outbreak of the disease that Africa had seen in fifteen years and it could emerge again. According to the UN, a new outbreak during the next rainy season could lead to 125,000 new cases. Donors need to act now and provide funding and support to repair Zimbabwe’s dilapidated water and sewage systems. It is not good enough to just pick up the pieces once an emergency hits.”    

Oxfam says that donors have focused mainly on emergency aid, and while this is still critical, they must begin to look for ways to fund recovery, even if they do not yet want to channel funds directly through the government itself.  This could be by providing technical support to particular ministries or channelling funding through the United Nations and non-governmental organisations.

The agency also said that support for the agricultural sector, health services, and education was urgently needed.  Although Zimbabwe’s harvest is expected to be better than last year’s it will not be enough, and in any case, many people are still expected to require food aid before the harvest is delivered in 2010. Oxfam believes that donors must provide funding for agricultural inputs, such as seeds and fertilizers, as well as supporting irrigation projects to revive the farming sector.  

Stocking continued: “We know that donors are understandably cautious about directly funding the Government of National Unity, but we believe that they should look for ways to support the recovery and rehabilitation of Zimbabwe.  Despite the challenges, we need to find ways of helping the people of Zimbabwe, who have suffered greatly in the last decade. ”

The Global Political Agreement that created the government of National Unity in Zimbabwe set certain benchmarks for the reform of the judiciary, constitution and land. The Zimbabwe government should uphold the rule of law, repeal all repressive laws and give space to civil society groups to engage on all fronts.  It is important that the government recognises that donors are unlikely to fund them directly until it demonstrates significant progress in this regard.

Oxfam emergency response: Zimbabwe crisis

In a new report ‘Too little, too slow: why more must be done to assist Pakistan’s displaced millions’, Oxfam reveals that most displaced people have not received adequate water, sanitation, food, healthcare, cash, information, and shelter assistance, especially those in unofficial camps and host communities where approximately 85 per cent of displaced people are staying. Six weeks into the emergency, the United Nation’s revised appeal for €394 million ($543 million) was barely a quarter-funded - and most of that was given to support the exodus of people fleeing clashes last year. To date, the US has been by far the greatest contributor, having provided €48 ($68 million) or 12.5 per cent of total needs, leaving European donors lagging behind.

“This is the world’s biggest and fastest growing human displacement in over a decade. So far, Europe has not only failed to address adequately the immediate needs of more than two million people, but also risks missing opportunities to support longer term efforts to help stabilise a volatile region,” said Elise Ford, head of Oxfam International’s EU office. “With the humanitarian crisis threatening to escalate, time is running out.”

Wealthy European states have committed tiny amounts to the UN emergency appeal. The world’s sixth richest country, the UK, is the second biggest donor to the appeal after the US, having given €12.7 million, just 3.2 per cent of the requirements. The fourth richest country, Germany, has given 1.3 per cent. Italy has provided 0.3 per cent, Netherlands 0.3 per cent, Sweden 0.2 per cent, and France 0.02 per cent. The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) pledged just €5.5 million (1.2 percent) in mid May.

“At tomorrow’s summit, the EU needs to not only seize the opportunity to address immediate humanitarian needs but also to take steps to bolster stability and reduce risks of future disasters by seriously investing into long-term recovery efforts and addressing the underlying causes of the conflict,” added Ford. “The Pakistani government’s response plan to the current crisis requires sustained support by the international community if it is to be turned into reality. The EU must support the Government of Pakistan to fulfil its obligations towards its citizens, and allow accountable and democratic civilian government institutions to lead an effective recovery and reconstruction plan.”

You can help: donate to the Pakistan Conflict Appeal

Find out more about Oxfam’s Pakistan emergency response
 

Note to editors

Oxfam press release, 11 June: Pakistan aid effort in jeopardy due to lack of funds and UN blockage

Working with local partners, Oxfam International is planning to assist up to 360,000 people both inside official camps and elsewhere with water and sanitation, non-food items, cash grants, and hygiene promotion.

Together, with over 450 development, environmental and social organisations from across the world, the international agency called for world leaders, meeting at the G8 Summit in Italy next month, to come to Copenhagen ready to strike a post-2012 climate deal that will prevent a human catastrophe.

The machinery of the talks is working but a lack of political will from industrialised countries has blocked progress and undermined poor country confidence in the negotiations - only a political commitment for ambitious action at the highest level can save the talks, said Oxfam. 

Antonio Hill, Oxfam’s Policy Advisor said: “In the fight against climate change we need the generals on the battlefield. World leaders meeting at the G8 in Italy must promise to come to Copenhagen ready to strike a deal that will prevent a human catastrophe.”

“Poor countries have been left stranded - millions of people face, hunger, disease and disaster but the countries that created the nightmare are refusing to lift a finger to prevent it becoming a reality,” said Hill.  “Poor countries were dealt another blow this week when Japan announced a pathetically low target for cutting emissions by just 8 percent on 1990 levels by 2020.”

In the final session developing countries sharply criticised industrialised countries’ contribution to the talks. Over the last two weeks rich nations have failed to set an overall target for mid term emission reductions - one of the main aims of the meeting - or put forward concrete proposals on funding to help poor countries reduce emissions and adapt to a changing climate.  

Hill said: “Rich country delegates have spent two weeks talking but have done nothing on the issues that really matter. Rich countries may be kidding themselves they are working towards a deal but they are not kidding anyone else.”

Despite the failure of rich countries to engage in Bonn there are a huge number of proposals on the table - some of which could still add up to a fair and adequate deal.

“There are two deals in the hundreds of pages of the negotiating text sitting with governments today. One will secure our future - the other will bring disaster. World leaders need to get a grip on the talks to ensure the right deal is made in Copenhagen”, said Hill

Oxfam and climate change

Notes to editors

Oxfam has spokespeople at the talks from Bangladesh, South Africa, US, UK, Germany and Australia and can arrange interviews. For more information and to arrange an interview contact: Lucy Brinicombe in Oxford, +44 (0)1865 472192 / +44(0)7786 110054 / lbrinicombe@oxfam.org.uk, Anna Mitchell in Bonn, + 44 (0)77 96 99 32 88 or Mirjam Hägele in Bonn+ 49 (0)177 8809977

Oxfam is a founder member of the ‘tck tck tck’ campaign.  The campaign brings together an unprecedented alliance of faith groups, NGOs, trade unions and individual. As world leaders prepare to strike a climate deal in Copenhagen in December, and aims to harness the voices of people from around the globe to demand an ambitious, fair and binding climate deal which reflects the latest science.

Oxfam is a member of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition.

Analysis of the talks

Virtually all the different countries’ proposals for what needs to go into the deal are out on the table - ahead of a 17 June timeline for submission of proposals. However the real negotiations on which proposals stay in and which are removed did not get off the ground. 

MITIGATION

A key aim of the talks in Bonn was to set a target for rich country emissions reductions - this has not happened. Rich countries commitments currently add up to between 7 and 15 per cent cut in emissions by 2020 (relative to 1990 levels) and would put the world on track for over three degrees of warming. It is also significantly below the target range of 25 - 40 percent that rich countries backed one and a half years ago when negotiations on a post Kyoto deal began in Bali.

The failure to set an aggregate target, coupled with Japan’s announcement to cut emissions by just eight per cent, will seriously undermine developing country confidence in the talks and hamper progress on the negotiations (Japan’s target in the current commitment period up till 2012 is six percent below 1990 levels).  Developing countries have said they will not start negotiating on a deal until rich countries set a collective target and over 40 developing countries - including South Africa and India - have put forward a proposal today which outlines how much individual rich countries must cut their emissions by in order to deliver an overall reduction in emissions of 40 percent on 1990 levels by 2020.

The developing country proposal mirrors the findings of a report launched by Oxfam this week, which also calls for at least a 40 percent cut.  In order to deliver their fair share of the effort needed to reach this target Japan, which announced an eight per cent reduction this week, must deliver a 56 percent reduction, according to Oxfam. Europe must cut emissions by 44 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 - it is currently committed to a 20 - 30 percent reduction. Russia, which has yet to set a mid term target, must deliver a 20 percent reduction in emissions. Australia, which may commit to a 25 percent cut in emissions, would need to deliver reductions of 40 percent and Canada, whose commitments are equivalent to a 3 per cent drop in emissions on 1990 levels by 2020, would need to deliver a cut of 43 percent. The US must deliver a 45 per cent cut.

 FINANCE

Rich countries’ performance on finance has been even more lack luster, despite it being a crunch issue at the talks. Rich countries have failed to put a figure on the scale of the finance that is needed to help developing countries adapt to a changing climate and scale back their emissions. They have failed to come up with any concrete suggestions on how the funds should be raised or how they should be governed and managed.

Roughly half of the reductions. which need to be made by 2020, must be made in poor countries and the majority of developing countries will not be able to achieve emissions reductions without significant financial incentives from rich countries. 

The G77 group of developing countries calls for rich countries to contribute between 0.5 and 1 per cent of their GDP towards mitigation and adaptation action in the developing world. A proposal from Mexico would make finance flows dependent on the willingness of individual countries to deliver on their funding commitments is gaining momentum. This is a risky strategy given that rich countries are notoriously bad at delivering money promised for international aid in the past.

Oxfam is calling for the establishment of a ‘Global Mitigation and Finance Mechanism’ that would use money generated in the sale of carbon permits to guarantee a steady supply of funds. At least $150 billion is needed every year to fund both adaptation and mitigation action in developing countries. 

ADAPTATION

Industrialised countries continue to push for existing institutions - such as the World Bank - to manage adaptation finance instead of the new arrangements developing countries say are needed. They are also opposing immediate measures to tackle the urgent adaptation needs of the world’s most vulnerable countries, as well as proposals that would address the needs of people forced to migrate as a result of climate impacts. Developing countries have complained that rich countries are more interested in the planning and implementation of adaptation then finding the money to pay for it.

 EMISSIONS FROM SHIPPING AND AVIATION

Australia put forward a proposal for emissions from international aviation and shipping to be part of an international climate deal. Australia’s intervention at the climate change talks in Bonn called for regulation of aviation and shipping emissions ‘without discrimination’ between countries. However it made no reference to the impact this might have on its small island neighbours, who depend heavily on air and sea links while emitting only a minuscule fraction of the emissions of their richer neighbour.

Tanzania noted that the proposal failed to recognise that income raised from the mechanism should be directed to poor developing countries.  An agreement on the proposal is unlikely without an explicit agreement that any income raised will go to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change. 

Oxfam welcomed the move to include all emissions in the talks but said that poor small islands nations who rely on shipping and aviation for their survival must be exempt and any funds raised from the scheme must be used to help poor countries adapt to a changing climate and reduce their emissions.

Rich countries have a ‘double duty’ to both cut emissions at home while also helping to fund emissions reductions in poor countries in order to get a fair and safe climate deal, according to a new report launched today by international agency, Oxfam.
 
The report ‘Hang Together or Separately?’, launched at the UN talks in Bonn, says that only rich countries can break the deadlock currently crippling international climate negotiations and prevent the world lurching into climate disaster. The framework presented in the report offers a pragmatic way to measure how much rich countries should cut their emissions by and how much separate developing countries must receive to help them cut their emissions as well.  
 
The science shows that annual global emissions need to return to 1990 levels or below by 2020. Oxfam says roughly half of these reductions could be achieved through the establishment of a ‘Global Mitigation and Finance Mechanism’ which will provide poor countries with the up front support they need to limit the growth in their emissions without compromising their development.
 
Rich countries must also collectively cut their emissions by at least 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, with a majority of these reductions occurring at home. Oxfam’s report considers for each rich country its responsibility for causing climate change and its capability to respond in order to spell out exactly how much they must cut their emissions to meet this target. It also shows that no rich country is anywhere near delivering their fair share of the reductions needed.

According to the report, the UK must cut its emissions by 45.3 per cent by 2020 on 1990 levels - the EU should have a combined target of 45 per cent. However, the 20-30 per cent target agreed by EU governments shows how politics has over-ruled what is scientifically needed if we are to avoid runaway climate change.
 
Rich countries are responsible for three quarters of greenhouse gas emissions currently in the atmosphere, but it is the world’s poorest people being hit first and hardest by a changing climate. In Africa, changes to rainfall are already affecting food production, and rising temperatures are boosting the spread of disease.

Many developing countries have already made significant steps to reduce emissions and signalled their willingness to discuss further action - provided that rich countries provide financial and technological support. For example, Mexico has already committed to halving its emissions by 2050 and China is a world leader in renewable energy investment - ploughing $12 billion into renewable energy in 2007.

“Rich countries, who are most responsible for climate change, must break this deadlock. Our proposed approach gives them a way to do that and lead the way in avoiding human catastrophe”, said Oxfam’s Campaigns and Policy Director Phil Bloomer. “Rich countries have the money and the technology to pull us from the brink of no return. They have a double duty - to deliver massive emissions cuts at home and provide money for poor countries to tackle their emissions too.

“It is unrealistic and immoral for rich countries to expect developing countries to cut their emissions first when it is developing countries who are most vulnerable to climate change and need to develop out of poverty. Every country must play its part and this report offers a realistic way forward instead of the polarised paralysis we are seeing at the moment”, he added.
 
The ‘Global Mitigation and Finance Mechanism’ would use money from the sale of carbon permits to provide the up-front support developing countries need. The world’s poorest countries, such as Uganda and India, would receive 100 percent of the funding they need to shift to a low carbon development path. However, more advanced developing economies such as Brazil and China would be expected to fund a proportion of the costs, depending on their economic capabilities.
 
Oxfam estimates that at least $150 billion is needed every year to fund both adaptation and mitigation action in developing countries. This is a relatively small amount compared with the cost of inaction - which economist Sir Nicolas Stern estimates could be as much as 5-20 percent of global GDP - and miniscule compared to the trillions of dollars that was found to bail out rich country banks.
 
Bloomer said: “Without exception, all rich country governments are failing in their duty to protect their citizens from catastrophic climate change. Acting now will save money and save lives.”

Notes for editors

‘Hang Together or Separately?’ outlines what level of emissions reductions individual rich countries need to make to contribute their fair share of the effort needed to deliver on this target:

• - The US must deliver 45 per cent cuts where as the climate bill currently making its way through the House of Representatives proposes up to a 14 per cent cut in emissions.
• - Europe must cut emissions by 44 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 - with the bulk of the cuts occurring domestically. It is currently committed to a 20 - 30 percent reduction.
• - Japan, which is poised this week to commit to a 7 or 25 per cent reduction or possibly even an increase, must deliver a 56 percent reduction.
• - Russia, which has yet to set a mid term target, must deliver a 20 percent reduction in emissions.
• - Australia, which has committed to a 25 percent cut in emissions, would need to deliver reductions of 40 percent.
• - Canada, whose commitments are equivalent to a 3 per cent drop in emissions on 1990 levels by 2020, would need to deliver a cut of 43 percent.

For more information, a copy of the report or the executive summary, and to arrange an interview contact: Lucy Brinicombe in Oxford on +44 (0)1865 472192 / +44 (0) 7786 110054, or Anna Mitchell in Bonn  on + 44 77 96 99 32 88 and  Mirjam Hägele in Bonn on + 49 177 8809977.

Oxfam has spokespeople at the UN climate change talks from Bangladesh, South Africa, Uganda, US, UK, Germany and Australia.

View pictures and case studies illustrating the impact of a changing climate on poor communities across the world.

Video footage of the impacts of climate change including interviews is available for download (account/username: video12; password: 236video; port: 21). There are three high-quality MOV files plus a WMV viewing file of the three MOV files. Included in this download is a log and transcript of the three files which have material from Bangladesh, Cambodia and Uganda. Use of these images is free. Oxfam would appreciate being credited with the images if possible. Note, if you are using Internet Explorer it probably won’t cope with downloading or opening the folder with ftp sites. If so, you can download free software like FileZilla and use this to access the files.

Oxfam is a founder member of the ‘tck tck tck’ campaign. The campaign brings together an unprecedented alliance of faith groups, NGOs, trade unions and individual. As world leaders prepare to strike a climate deal in Copenhagen in December, and aims to harness the voices of people from around the globe to demand an ambitious, fair and binding climate deal which reflects the latest science.

Oxfam is a member of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition.

A group of nine major international aid agencies[1] said today that their aid effort of reaching over one million victims of the fighting in Swat valley of Pakistan was under threat due to a lack of funds. The agencies face a shortfall in excess of £26m ($42m).

World Vision faces a £7.5m ($12.1m) shortfall while Oxfam and Save the Children both face deficits of £4 million ($6 million) each. Oxfam will have to close its programmes to the 360,000 people it had planned to assist if money does not arrive by July. Concern Worldwide will also have to close its programme mid-July, just when the health risks will escalate due to the onset of the monsoon rains.

“This is the worst funding crisis we’ve faced in over a decade for a major humanitarian emergency. Some 2.5 million people have fled their homes. One month into this emergency, Oxfam is £4 million short and will have to turn our backs on some of the world’s most vulnerable people. In the same period after the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, we had £14m committed from the UN, governments and the public,” said Jane Cocking, Oxfam’s Humanitarian Director.

The funding crisis is not affecting the agencies alone. The UN’s $543m appeal has only received $138m so far. This is a 75 percent shortfall. Out of the 52 organisations requesting UN appeal funds, 30 have received no funds at all.

The vast majority of the funds the UN appeal has received came before the recent outpouring of people from the Swat valley, which swelled the number of displaced from 500,000 to 2.5 million people in early May, the largest internal displacement of people in Pakistan’s history. Since May rich countries have contributed a mere $50m to the UN appeal, a minuscule nine percent of the total required.

The US, the world’s richest nation, is by far the greatest contributor to the fund at $68m, giving 12.5 per cent of what is required since the initial crisis began in October 2008. The sixth richest country, the UK, has given 1.6 percent of requirements, Japan, the world’s second largest economy, has given 1.4 percent, Germany, fourth richest country, has given 1.3 percent, Canada 1.0 percent, Australia 0.8 percent, Norway 0.4 percent, Italy 0.3 percent, Netherlands 0.3 percent, Sweden 0.2 percent, France 0.02 percent.

The agencies said that besides little money going into the UN appeal, the problem was also that even less money is being disbursed to frontline agencies from the appeal. In a humanitarian crisis speed of delivery is vital. Previously governments would give part of their aid money directly to frontline agencies. Now when government do give aid money, it tends to go to the UN which then passes it on to agencies working on the ground. Though the UN system can improve coordination and reduce duplication of effort, the allocation of money to frontline agencies takes far too long. The UN funding system needs to be complemented with other diverse ways of getting aid money as swiftly as possible to those saving lives.

Five weeks into the escalation of the crisis, the UK’s Department for International Development says that it will now directly fund those frontline non-governmental agencies working within the UN appeal. Welcome as this change is, it will require other donors to be equally as flexible to cover the agencies’ £26m shortfall.

“With monsoon rains due by July, serious health risks will increase as water sources become contaminated and sanitation worsens. At a time when the risks of malaria, respiratory infection and diarrhoea start to escalate, agencies will be forced to close down our programmes.

“The only reason we haven’t faced a massive humanitarian meltdown is the generosity of families and communities of modest means who’ve looked after the vast majority of those who’ve fled the fighting. With so many mouths to feed, these communities will soon be running on empty. The world’s richest nations need to dig much deeper into their pockets to help,” said Carolyn Miller, Chief Executive of Merlin.

You can help: donate to the Pakistan Conflict Appeal

Find out more about Oxfam’s Pakistan emergency response

Notes to editors:

ActionAid plans to support approx 28,000 people (4,500 families) in both camps and host communities in Swabi, Mardan and Hasan Abdal over the next 12 months. This will include the distribution of food, provision of hygiene kits and medicine, provision of health and hygiene sessions and establishment of mobile health camps. Teachers will be recruited to operate in eight schools reaching 1,500 displaced children alongside provision of school kits. Recreational and sports activities will be organised for young people. A psychosocial consultant will also be hired to train local partners and volunteers to support displaced and trauma victims. ActionAid will also lobby government to take leadership in the response and ensure better coordination at ground level. 450 families have been reached to-date with food and non-food items support. ActionAid has raised approximately 60,000 through in-country resources and individual supporters in the UK but has identified a funding gap of £300,000 to support longer-term work.

Working with local partners CARE has distributed stockpiled tents and kitchen utensils worth £100,000 and 500 displaced families, and started health camps to provide emergency medical care with £80,000 raised from trusts. CARE’s overall goal is to save lives and reduce suffering of 70,000 conflict-affected IDPs in NWFP over the next twelve months. CARE needs £3.9m to do this and are unable to carry out activities on a significant scale until we receive further funding.
 

Concern Worldwide is responding to the crisis to address the urgent humanitarian needs of IDPs in District Mardan in the North West Frontier Province. They are currently providing essential non-food items and hygiene kits to approximately 22,400 internally displaced persons (3,200 families) in four union councils, working with a local partner. Both Concern and its partner have the capacity to increase the scale of this response significantly; however, at this point in time funding alone is its biggest constraint. So far Concern has committed approximately £180,000 from its funds, is awaiting written confirmation from a donor of approximately £90,000, and is in the process of applying to other donors for funding that will allow them to reach at least 10,000 families or 70,000 people. Concern’s funding will run out in mid July. Without additional funding it will have to cease its operations leaving the IDPs, particularly those amongst host communities, at risk of becoming even more vulnerable to hunger, disease and death if their immediate needs are not met.

Islamic Relief Worldwide is currently working in two Union councils of Mardan district focusing on IDPs living with host communities. With the limited resources available from funding agencies coupled with the lack of media exposure, Islamic Relief Worldwide has developed a plan to support 97,968 beneficiaries for six months with an estimated cost of £ 1 Million. This support is focused in the areas of distribution of Non Food Items, Primary health care, psychosocial support to traumatised children/women and search and reunification of children and elderly who were separated from their families. The intervention is implemented through Islamic Relief Pakistan. It is clear that the needs outweigh the resources allocated and Islamic Relief Worldwide hopes that the international community will release further funds in order for it to respond quickly and in an effective manner.

Merlin is currently providing basic health services to around 220,000 displaced people in camps and host communities in Mardan, Nowshera and Peshawar districts; however funds received through the UN (from CERF and other institutional donors) have been very limited and currently will finish at the end of June. Funds received directly from institutional donors have also been very limited.  If no additional funds are received soon, Merlin will not be able to sustain the level of services to the current and increasing numbers of displaced people. At present less than 40% of health needs are covered. Should service provision further decrease, this will have a disastrous impact on the health status of IDPs and host communities with high potential for widespread epidemics.

Oxfam launched a £5.5m response on 8 May, working with local partners. Oxfam is responding with essential humanitarian relief and services, particularly water and sanitation, and are currently aiming to reach 360,000 people. Oxfam is currently underwriting the response with its own funds and around £100,000 of money raised from supporters. Unless Oxfam raises additional money, it will have to close its operation in July. Oxfam is currently reaching less people than it would like to due to the limited funding, for example, Oxfam is providing safe water to just 50,000 people instead of the planned 120,000.
 

Save the Children plans to reach 280,000 displaced people, including 168,000 children, with urgently needed healthcare, non-food relief items and child protection work. 40,000 people have been reached so far, but to date only £2.6m of the £6.6m needed by Save the Children for its initial response has been secured. Save the Children has begun distributing food for 170,000 people and will be transferring $45 cash grants to 5,000 households each month to support essential household costs. Save the Children is especially concerned by the looming educational crisis which sees an estimated 10,000 classrooms currently occupied by IDPs, meaning that there are virtually no learning opportunities for at least 1.7 million children. Despite this, as of the beginning of this week the education cluster, of which Save the Children is global co-lead, had still received no funding.

One month on from the start of its emergency response, World Vision has only received a fraction of the $13 million it needs to reach 300,000 of the displaced people taking refuge in host communities in Buner, Swabi and Mardan districts. World Vision’s assessment of the crisis found people are in great need of improved health services, hygiene, education, water, shelter and sanitation facilities. The humanitarian agency will soon receive food and $398,000 cash from the World Food Programme,  which will benefit 195,000 people in Mardan district until December. The agency has received no other funding through the UN funding mechanism. With limited private donations, the agency has been able to reach 3,500 people with health kits, mattresses and essential household items.
 

Their appeal came as Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, offered a message of support, along with Nobel Peace Prize winners Jody Williams and Máiread Maguire.

In a letter to G8 development ministers, due to meet in Rome on Thursday [11 June] ahead of a summit in Italy next month, the W8 have asked G8 leaders to honor their promises to support and fund health systems in poor countries and to make health care free for pregnant women and children.

Calling themselves the “W8″, Sandhya Venkateswaran, Miranda Akhvlediani, Rokeya Kabir, Kadiatou Baby Maiga, Jiraporn Limpananont, Leonor Magtolis Briones, Elba Rivera-Urbina and Dorothy Ngoma represent national movements for health and education in India, Georgia, Bangladesh, Mali, Thailand, the Philippines, Nicaragua and Malawi respectively.

Mary Robinson said: “I am very encouraged by this group of highly-respected women leaders from around the world who are asking G8 leaders to be more accountable to the promises they have made on financing for health. I join them in calling on the world leaders meeting in Italy to commit the resources to reduce preventable deaths.”  

The letter states: “The G8 must now offer countries who can not afford their own bail-outs reassurance that mothers and children will not be abandoned.

“In this economic crisis it is more important than ever that poor people are not turned away from a health centre, and that women have the care they need when they are giving birth to the next generation.”

Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, said: “The leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations meeting in Italy in July would do well to listen to these extraordinary women. Rich nations have moved heaven and earth to save banks and corporations on the brink of financial meltdown.  At the same time, a child dies every three seconds of preventable disease somewhere in the world, and every minute a woman dies in childbirth or pregnancy.” 

Máiread Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize winner and co-founder of the Community of Peace People, said: “It is unacceptable that in this day-and-age, so many women in poor countries are still dying in pregnancy and childbirth. Life’s start should not be a death sentence. These eight remarkable women are a voice of conscience. If G8 leaders honor promises to find the money to hire doctors and nurses in poor countries, countless lives will be saved.”

Oxfam supports the W8 in their call for action to prevent maternal mortality.

/Ends.

 For information and interviews with the W8 members contact: Sarah Dransfield on 01865 472269, 07767 085636 or email: sdransfield@oxfam.org.uk

Cyclone survivors in Bangladesh are now facing a severe risk of disease as the supply of safe drinking water is reaching crisis levels, international aid agency Oxfam said today. Cyclone Aila hit the coast of Bangladesh on 25 May, affecting 3.6m people and leaving over 750,000 people homeless.

The full picture of the devastation caused by the cyclone is only now emerging.  Salt water has contaminated nearly all the fresh water sources in the southwest of the country and has damaged around one third in central and southeastern districts.

The sanitation systems have collapsed in all the cyclone-affected areas and in addition human, animal and fish corpses are polluting the countryside.

Heather Blackwell, head of Oxfam in Bangladesh, said: “The cyclone-affected areas of Bangladesh are now an ideal breeding ground for all kinds of diseases. In many areas all the sources of fresh water have been polluted by the sea water, forcing people to drink dirty water. This has already made thousands of people sick. Without urgent action many more will fall ill.

“The government of Bangladesh is trying to cope with the problem and has already asked for foreign aid to help. Oxfam urges the international community to respond generously to help the cyclone victims.”

Oxfam is currently expanding its emergency response to reach 110,000 people in the most severely affected districts of Khulna and Shatkhira in south-west Bangladesh.

Donate to Cyclone Aila response
Cyclone Aila: Oxfam’s response

For more information contact

Bangladesh
Kaiser Rejve (Humanitarian Programme): mobile: + 880173041968
Md Badi Akhter (Programme Manager): mobile: + 8801711592862
Heather Blackwell (Country Director): mobile + 8801713011114 or  +919871187666

UK
Sean Kenny, +44 7766 443 506, skenny@oxfam.org.uk

“Living conditions in Afgooye are some of the worst I have ever seen. I couldn’t see a single shelter fit for human beings, and thousands of people have nothing to sleep under or protect them from the searing heat and heavy rains. I saw sick children lying on the floor with diarrhoea and disease. I saw a young girl who had been shot in the head, fleeing with her family. People told me they expect the situation to get even worse in the next few weeks – more people are going to be killed or forced to flee for their lives, and the humanitarian need here is going to keep rising.”
 
Hassan Noor continued:

“Local Somali aid workers, who are working tirelessly to get help to thousands of people, need support from the rest of the world. The recent fighting has made the humanitarian crisis in Somalia even worse, at a time when nearly half the country’s population is already in desperate need of aid. Families are struggling to cope with a lack of food and basic services, and the worst drought Somalia has seen in more than a decade.”
 
Oxfam warned that if the new fighting continues, it will become even more difficult for aid agencies to respond to the enormous needs. Somalia is already one of the most dangerous places in the world in which to deliver humanitarian assistance, with 40 aid workers killed since the beginning of 2008. The agency called on all parties to the conflict to comply with international humanitarian law and allow aid to be safely provided to all who need it.

In pictures: fresh aid to Somalia

More on Oxfam’s response to the conflict in Somalia 

Note to editors:
Oxfam this week flew nine tonnes of aid into Mogadishu, consisting of blankets, mosquito nets, plastic sheeting for shelter, 3,500 buckets for storing and carrying clean water, and medical aid including syringes and antibiotics. Further deliveries will be made over the coming weeks.

Today, four of the UK’s best-loved children’s hospitals are joining forces with Oxfam to create a unique partnership that will collect clothes, books, music and homewares from people’s houses and ensure that 100 per cent of the profits stay in the charity sector.

Claudia Winkleman Launches House-To-House Collection Scheme at Great Ormond Street Hospital

The charitable arms of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital and The Children’s Hospital, Sheffield have all signed up to be part of Oxfam’s new charity bag collection scheme.

The scheme will collect in areas close to the hospitals, with the revenue raised from local supporters going directly to help their local children’s hospital. Every bag of donated items will help these specialist children’s hospitals provide vital research and equipment to help treat sick children in the UK, and support Oxfam’s work with people living in poverty around the world.

In the past hospitals have had to use commercial contractors to make the collections and sell the donated materials to generate money for them. By working with Oxfam’s brand new house-to-house collection service, the hospitals are able to increase the amount of money they raise per item donated, and assure people making donations that every penny of profit goes to charity.

Britian’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden, who is supporting the scheme, said: “Oxfam’s house-to-house collection scheme is one I support and really is the first of its kind to benefit charities 100 per cent. It keeps the money raised in the charity sector, meaning however small or large your donation you can be sure that every last penny will go to a great cause. By simply donating your items, you will be helping to raise much-needed funds for Oxfam’s work in the fight against poverty, whilst ensuring four of the UK’s leading children’s hospital can provide additional equipment and high quality medical research which really will make a difference to the lives of sick children.”

Collection bags will be sent out to homes in areas connected to the hospitals four times a year for supporters to fill and Oxfam to collect and sort at their Wastesaver recycling plant before being sold to generate maximum value. Each hospital’s collection will be in clearly marked bags and when it arrives at Oxfam it will be weighed and the relevant hospital will receive £75 per tonne.

David Vernon-Edwards, Director of The Children’s Hospital Charity, speaking on behalf of the four children’s hospitals, said: “We are all very excited to be working on this very innovative partnership with Oxfam. Fundraising is essential for all four hospitals as they continue to provide the best possible care for the UK’s most seriously ill children. Just one bag of collected goods will go a long way to providing vital equipment and research for sick children.”

David McCullough, Trading Director at Oxfam, added: “This is a groundbreaking new scheme and allows people to have absolute confidence that 100 per cent of the profit from their donations is going to support good causes both in the UK and in the developing world. The hospitals get a better deal from items collected for them, and Oxfam is able to generate money to tackle poverty. It’s a win-win.”

More on Oxfam’s groundbreaking house-to-house charity collection scheme

About Oxfam Wastesaver
Oxfam is the only major charity to operate its own sorting facility, Wastesaver. At Wastesaver, Oxfam gets maximum value from the donations by sorting items into those that can be sold by Oxfam in the UK, those that can be sold into second hand markets elsewhere in the world and those that can be recycled. Less than one per cent of clothes that go to Wastesaver end up in landfill. The facility sorts donations and sells them through a number of different routes, including:

About Alder Hey Children’s Hospital
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is Europe’s busiest children’s hospital and is responsible for the health of more children than any other hospital in the UK. It is the first children’s hospital in England to be accredited by the World Health Organisation as a health promoting hospital and has a proud history of innovation and leadership in the care of sick children.
Alder Hey Imagine Appeal ensures the hospital can continue with it’s pioneering work and aims to improve the quality of life for children whilst they are in hospital by funding research, vital medical equipment and improving the facilities for patients and their families.

About Birmingham Children’s Hospital
Birmingham Children’s Hospital has been advancing the frontiers of paediatric medicine and care. Providing both general and specialist care for over 150,000 children each year, Birmingham Children’s Hospital is one of only four specialist children’s hospitals in the UK and is a recognised centre of excellence serving Birmingham, the West Midlands and, for some specialties, the UK and beyond.
Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charities (registered charity number 1074850) raises the extra money needed to provide the additional facilities, equipment and high quality medical research which really do make a difference to children’s lives.

About Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity
Great Ormond Street Hospital is one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals with the broadest range of dedicated, children’s healthcare specialists under one roof in the UK. The hospital’s pioneering research and treatment gives hope children who are suffering from the rarest, most complex and often life-threatening conditions, from across the country and abroad.  Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity needs to raise £50 million a year to help rebuild and refurbish Great Ormond Street Hospital, provide vital up-to-date equipment and fund research into better treatments for the children. You can help us to provide world class care for our patients and families.

About The Children’s Hospital, Sheffield
Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is one of only four dedicated Children’s Hospital Trusts in the UK providing integrated, highly specialist health care for children and young people in Sheffield, South Yorkshire and beyond.

The Trust was rated as the best children’s NHS hospital trust in the country in the Healthcare Commission Annual Report 2008 and retained its ‘Excellent’ score in both the Quality of Service and Use of Resources categories.

Key services provided by the Trust include: neurosurgery, oncology, endocrinology, specialist orthopaedics, neonatal surgery, metabolic disease, respiratory diseases, intensive care, cystic fibrosis and neurology, A&E services, acute paediatrics, orthopaedics, child development, community paediatrics and services for children with neuro-disability and Child & Adolescent Mental Health services.

The Children’s Hospital Charity
The Children’s Hospital Charity exists to support and enhance the services of Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and its reputation as a centre of excellence for the care, prevention and cure of childhood illnesses.

The money raised through our fundraising activities is invested in four key areas:

For media enquiries, please contact:

Oxfam
Kezia Anim-Addo
Tel 01865 4722498 / +44 (0)7920 596 358
Email: kanim@oxfam.org.uk

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital:
Chris Done, Senior Fundraising Manager
Tel: 0151 252 5395
Email: chris@imagineappeal.com

Birmingham Children’s Hospital:
Tracy Marsh, Director of Fundraising
Tel: 0121 333 8420
Email: Tracy.Marsh@bch.nhs.uk

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity:
Katy McMullen or Laura Redmond
Tel: 020 7239 3044/ 020 7239 3039
Email: katy.mcmullen@gosh.org or laura.redmond@gosh.org

The Children’s Hospital, Sheffield:
Jennifer Wilson (The Children’s Hospital Charity) or Natalie Ross (Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust)
Tel: 0114 226 0706 or 0114 296 5564
Email: Jennifer.Wilson@sch.nhs.uk or Natalie.Ross@sch.nhs.uk

The UK Government and World Bank are backing the Affordable Medicine Facility, which encourages the sale of anti-malaria medicines - including artemesinin, the last drug effective against all strains of the disease - via unregulated private shops.

Clinical trials in Cambodia, reported by the BBC today, found evidence of resistance to artemisinin among malaria parasites. Large-scale distribution of malaria drugs through unregulated and unqualified shopkeepers has been blamed.

Anna Marriott: Oxfam health policy adviser, said: “The world has already lost chloroquine, a very effective and cheap drug, because poor people could not buy a full course from ordinary shops. We now risk repeating the same story. That would be a disaster for hundreds of millions of people at risk from malaria.

“By promoting the distribution of anti-malarial drugs through unregulated private shops and despite its good intentions, the UK Government risks unwittingly contributing to a major setback in the fight against the disease.

“Worldwide, a child dies every five seconds from malaria. Countries such as Zambia and Ethiopia have reduced the illness and death toll by scaling up public sector prevention and treatment. The UK Government and World Bank should learn from their success and scale-up effective malaria treatment through good quality healthcare.”

Oxfam supports the overall goal of the Affordable Medicine Facility to reduce prices of ant-malarial drugs by 98%. But it is concerned that the distribution of drugs through ordinary shops will lead to misdiagnosis and mistreatment, including the sale of incomplete courses of medicines. All of these will increase the likelihood of drug-resistant malaria developing and spreading.

Further information: Jon Slater 07876 476403/ jslater@oxfam.org.uk

CORRECTION: 27 May
Oxfam International’s reaction on 26 May to the World Business Summit on Climate Change (see below) stated that the Summit’s final communiqué made no specific recommendation of a global target for mid-term (2020) emission cuts. However, the communique did refer to an “abatement of around 17Gt (globally) versus ‘business as usual’ by 2020″ to keep global warming to a maximum of two degrees. Oxfam, which is calling for emissions cuts of at least 40 per cent by 2020 from 1990 levels by the group of rich industrialized nations, should have acknowledged that, and was wrong to state that the final communique was unchanged from its original draft.

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

Global business leaders failed to make the giant stride needed to tackle climate change and fell short in providing the targets and numbers needed, international aid agency Oxfam said as the World Business Summit delivered its Copenhagen Climate Call today.

The communiqué issued by the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen remained unchanged from a draft version, despite three days of negotiations between leading businesses. The outcome amounts to a “tiny step” as opposed to the “giant step” needed, according to Oxfam.

Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs, who spoke at the summit, said:

“It’s a mystery how such influential and passionate voices could demand more urgency and specific commitments from the global business community - from Ban Ki-Moon, to Al Gore, to progressive businesses - only to be ignored in the final statement,” he said. “It is ironic that Prime Minister Rassmussen’s remarks at the end were clearer on targets for CO2 emissions cuts than the Summit was able to make to him.”

Hobbs continued: “In speeches and in the corridors, we heard many businesses talking loudly and persuasively for urgency and a safe and fair global deal just 200 days out from final negotiations - but the Summit’s statement let them down. This meeting articulated the scale of the problem but not the specifics of the solution.”

Hobbs added: “The Summit’s statement is only a tiny step in pushing for the right political recipe when it could have been a giant stride. It asked for 50 per cent global cuts by 2050 when we need at least 80 per cent. It mentioned mid-term cuts by 2020 - but gave no number: we need at least 40 per cent in developed counties. It mentioned the importance of adaptation finance to poor countries - but again no number: we need at least $50bn a year. These are all deal-breaking issues that this Summit should have tackled but did not.”

Oxfam and climate change

Notes to editors

For interviews, please contact, Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam International Executive Director: +447718533157 or Phil Bloomer, Oxfam Director of Campaigns and Policy: +447720259769

More than 800 business leaders gathered at The World Business Summit in Copenhagen from 24-26 May 2009.

International agency Oxfam - whose executive director Jeremy Hobbs will speak at the World Business Summit on Climate Change, a gathering of more than 800 business leaders - says that the private sector are set to push wavering governments for far more ambition and leadership at the 11^th hour.

“This is the time that big business must talk as one international voice to political leaders and we anticipate - for the first time - that it will be calling for both long- and mid-term targets for emissions cuts, and for money on the table to help developing countries adapt and pursue low-carbon futures,” Hobbs said. “These are make-or-break issues. We could witness at this meeting the private sector wielding its power for the climate good. The outcome could not matter more to millions of poor people around the world who are already suffering first and worst from the impacts of climate change.”

“It is crucial that the Summit’s “Copenhagen Call” contains specific detail on these key issues and that it is not derailed by businesses that continue to resist the inevitability of a low-carbon future,” Hobbs said. “At the moment, the private sector is a very mixed bag. There are companies providing world-class leadership, vision and action on climate change but others are just looking for loopholes and excuses.”

“Companies have a powerful interest to tackle climate change because they have to secure their own markets and supply chains. And they must call for a fair and safe deal so that the future world economy is stable and sustainable,” Hobbs said. “It is not only the future of business at stake, but that of human development.”

Oxfam says the Summit’s “Copenhagen Call” must specify at least 80 per cent emission cuts from 1990 levels by 2050 and acknowledge that emissions must peak by 2015 and fall to at least 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 in developed countries. It must also demand that rich countries commit at least $150 billion a year[1] for developing countries to adapt and mitigate, “which is the amount the US found to bail-out AIG”, Hobbs said. “These are the numbers that will make a difference - anything less will be a golden opportunity blown”.

Oxfam will also be wary of “red warning flags” - such as harsh intellectual property regimes and voluntary sectoral agreements for target cuts - which could arise in discussions at the Summit. “The devil in the detail of these kinds of issues could undermine the safety and fairness of a global deal,” Hobbs said. 

Get involved: climate change

CONTACTS FOR OXFAM INTERVIEW AT THE SUMMIT

JEREMY HOBBS

Executive Director, Oxfam International

Mobile: +44(0)7718533157

Email: Jeremy.hobbs@oxfaminternational.org

PHIL BLOOMER

Director Campaigns and Policy, Oxfam

Mobile: +44(0)7720259769

Email: pbloomer@oxfam.org.uk

For more press inquiries or in-depth briefings

Lucy Brinicombe,

Mobile: +44(0)7786110054

Email: lbrinicombe@oxfam.org.uk 

 OXFAM MEDIA MATERIALS AT THE SUMMIT

A pack of media materials will be available at the Summit. These include:

1. An Oxfam briefing note on “Industry Sectoral Agreements” that sets out the argument for and against these agreements in terms of whether they can help deliver a fair and safe climate deal.
2. A brief report that illustrates what Oxfam is doing to help people living in poverty adapt to the harmful effects of worsening climate change.
3. A profile of three companies - National Grid (UK and US), and Royal Mail and Marks & Spencer (UK) - as examples of how some businesses are showing world-beating leadership in tackling climate change.

 OXFAM SPEECH AT THE WORLD BUSINESS SUMMIT

Jeremy Hobbs will speak at 10:49-10:56 am Monday May 25 on the main platform on Business and Adaptation. This session aims “from a business perspective, to highlight successful adaptation actions and begin to outline the necessary international policy measures to support the scaling-up of these activities”. Jeremy Hobbs will “share a broader perspective on the human impacts of adaptation, and how these elements are connected with business planning.” 

Oxfam’s Claire Seaward said “The appalling lack of progress on reducing maternal mortality rates demonstrates the need for governments across the world to really invest in health services for poor women. These services need to be free, public services that have trained midwives and affordable and appropriate medicines.

“Today, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution committing to primary health care in all countries. Fulfilling this commitment is the first step governments can take to improving health care for pregnant women across the world.”

According to the World Health Statistics 2009, published today, the global maternal mortality ratio of 400 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births has barely changed since 1990. Every year an estimated 536 000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth.

Oxfam in action: gender equality

In depth: detailed resources on gender equality

For more information, or to arrange an interview please contact:

Sarah Dransfield, Oxfam GB Press Officer, + 44 (0)1865 472269/ + 44 (0)7767 085636 sdransfield@oxfam.org.uk

Without appropriate staff and access for vehicles agencies cannot adequately provide urgently needed services including food, water and sanitation equipment, leading to health risks amongst the war-weary refugees who are almost totally reliant on aid.

There is already an epidemic of chickenpox and skin diseases and a growing number of hepatitis cases because of poor sanitation.

As UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon prepared to visit the camps, Oxfam called on the Sri Lankan government to allow better access to the camps and to drop its vehicle ban, which has been in place since Sunday.

David White Oxfam’s Acting Country Director said: “The camps in Sri Lanka are huge. They stretch over 1,000 acres and take nearly an hour to walk across. Without vehicles we can’t do our work properly and that’s putting lives at risk.

“Thousands of people are arriving from the war zone in a very weak condition. We’re very worried about their health, with small children and the elderly being particularly at risk. Keeping aid agencies out will only make their condition more critical.

“We’re asking the Sri Lankan government to adhere to the guiding principles, agreed to by them, international donors and aid agencies, and let us do our job properly.”

The Menik Farm camps, near Vavuniya in the north of the country, are still expanding with traumatised people pouring in from the conflict zone. They already hold 120,000 people. The military have told aid agencies to expect another 50,000 refugees in the next few days. The new arrivals are the people who were held on the beach by the Tamil Tiger rebels until their defeat on Sunday.

Sri Lanka crisis: donate now

Conflict in Sri Lanka: Oxfam’s response

For more information contact:
In Sri Lanka, Malcolm Rodgers +94 7733 15515
In the UK, Sean Kenny  +447766 443 506

International agency Oxfam said today that it has had to double its aid effort in Pakistan as the number of displaced goes over two million, making the crisis the greatest internal displacement of people in the country’s history.

The agency had previously planned for  £2.2m programme reaching 175,000 people. Now, as the numbers of people needing urgent assistance mounts, Oxfam has boosted its efforts to a £5.3m programme reaching 360,000 people with clean water and sanitation, food and public hygiene information.

“We’ve been seeing thousands of families continuing to flee their homes, many walking great distances to find food, water, medicine, shelter and other essential items. This is now a massive humanitarian crisis. We have never witnessed such huge numbers of people fleeing conflict inside Pakistan before. With the Pakistani authorities and aid agencies already severely stretched, a further influx could turn this crisis into a catastrophe,” said Neva Khan, Oxfam country director in Pakistan.

Since the fighting started in April over 1.5 million people have fled their homes, bringing the total number of those displaced by conflict to over two million since August last year. It is estimated that nearly half of those displaced are children.

Conditions in official camps are still extremely difficult with shortages of essential items such as food, water, sanitation facilities, shelter, and health care.

Most displaced people are staying with host families, with large numbers in temporary shelters such as schools, or spontaneous camps. Oxfam is concerned about people staying with host families. They are less visible than people in camps but have urgent needs so special efforts are required to ensure they are not neglected. Conditions in spontaneous camps are very poor. They are scattered across the region and harder to assist, but local people and organisations are generously providing help. Displaced women and girls are especially vulnerable wherever they find themselves.

Donate to Pakistan Appeal

Pakistan: Oxfam’s response

The three charities are calling on the World Health Assembly, taking place in Geneva this week, to adopt a proposed resolution to strengthen primary health care in poor countries.

Claire Seaward of Oxfam said, “The threat of swine flu reveals once again just how vulnerable poor countries lacking even basic healthcare are to a global pandemic.

“But amidst the current, justified concern about swine flu we should not forget the much bigger threat to poor people posed by malaria, HIV/AIDS and maternal mortality. Investing in poor countries’ free public healthcare offers them protection against all of these as well as future health emergencies.”

World Vision CEO Justin Byworth added, “There is a need for national and global leadership to protect health, especially in developing countries where these threats may be less visible but are often more acute”

So far there have been 9830 cases of swine flu worldwide and 79 people have died*. The threat of this pandemic as well as the economic crisis are adding further pressure to already over-stretched health systems in poor countries. Failure to improve access to healthcare is already having a huge cost:

 - Every year 9.2 million children in developing countries die from largely preventable causes

- Every minute a woman with no medical care dies during pregnancy or childbirth

- Every hour, 300 people die of an AIDS-related illness

In September 1978 the Alma-Ata Agreement was made, expressing the need for urgent action by Governments, health and development workers, and the world community to protect and promote the health of everyone in the world. But progress is still slow three decades on.

Related press release: Swine flu patients should come before patents and profits - Oxfam (18 May 2009)

For more information, or to arrange an interview please contact:

Sarah Dransfield, Oxfam GB Press Officer, + 44 (0)1865 472269/ + 44 (0)7767 085636 sdransfield@oxfam.org.uk

 Notes to Editors:

* WHO figures updated 06:00 GMT on 19 May 09

Many poor countries cannot afford to create significant stockpiles of oseltamivir (brand name Tamiflu), currently sold by Roche at $16 per course of treatment to developing nations.

Oxfam is urging the WHO to use its pre-qualification scheme to encourage other companies to produce generic versions of the drug and to support developing countries that want to buy them. A similar approach to ARVs used to treat HIV helped reduce their price from $10,000 per patient per year to well under $100.

Dr. Mohga Kamal-Yanni, Oxfam senior health adviser, said: “Many developing countries are woefully ill-prepared to deal with a flu pandemic, with health budgets already under pressure from the economic crisis and stretched to breaking point attempting to cope with HIV and other existing health emergencies.

“The WHO can play a crucial role by doing two things: one is persuading donors and governments to invest in strong public health systems. The second is ensuring that developing countries can afford the medicines that could save thousands of lives if, as expected, this strain of flu continues to spread around the globe.”

Cipla, a drug company based in Mumbai, recently won a legal case in India allowing it to produce its own version of oseltamivir (brand name Antiflu). The WHO has now approved Antiflu for use but patent laws restrict its sale to other countries. Antiflu is currently priced at about $10 per course. 

Mohga Kamal-Yanni said: “The WHO must support countries that wish to waive Tamiflu patents. Furthermore, at a time when the health of many poor people is at risk, pharmaceutical companies must respect the right of developing countries to use legal safeguards to import generic versions of medicines that could protect public health.”  

“Drug companies should not be allowed to put their profits ahead of the lives of poor people. Patients are more important than patents.”

Roche this week donated 5.65 million packs of Tamiflu to the WHO. But Oxfam warned that this was nowhere near enough to meet developing country needs and would not provide a sustainable solution to the problem of unaffordable medicines.

Oxfam also warned that the search for a vaccine for this strain of flu - and other diseases that could develop into global pandemics - must be conducted in ways that ultimately allow for equitable distribution of vaccines to all countries.

Oxfam is concerned with recent reports that rich countries have already placed massive orders for a future vaccine, leaving little possibility for developing countries to gain supplies.

The threat of a flu pandemic and the need for affordable medicines will be hot topics at the World Health Assembly that begins on Monday in Geneva, Switzerland.

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The agency urged the Sri Lankan government to do all it can improve the situation in the camps around Vavuniya, in the north of the country.

Oxfam has rapidly expanded its work in Sri Lanka and is now providing water and sanitation to over 100,000 people and is preparing to assist a further 40,000. Almost 200,000 people have escaped the war zone since January and a further 60,000 are on their way says the UN.

Aid agencies are struggling to play catch-up after a second influx in a month of thousands of displaced people from the conflict zone. Most are exhausted and half- starved after a gruelling three-month siege which cost over 6,000 civilian lives, according to the UN.

David White, Oxfam’s acting Country Director, said: “Oxfam is very concerned about conditions in the camps. It’s been a race against time to get water and sanitation services up and running, and we’re worried that people are not getting enough clean water. There are problems with providing food and shelter to the displaced people.

“Now the end of the fighting has led to a massive influx of new people, and we are worried that the camps will not be able to cope.

“These people are extremely traumatised. Many have lost family in the fighting or become separated as they escaped. They are innocent civilians caught up in this conflict.

“The Sri Lankan government must work with aid agencies and the international community to make sure the camps are of a decent standard so the displaced people get the help they urgently need.

“In the longer term, the government of Sri Lanka must work towards letting the displaced people return home as soon as possible. They must not be allowed to fester in these camps for years, and instead be housed with relatives or friends as soon as possible.”

In addition to the camps being brought into line with international standards, Oxfam says independent observers such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or the International Committee for the Red Cross must witness the screening process which separate any remaining Tamil Tiger fighters from civilians.

Conflict in Sri Lanka: Oxfam’s response

Sri Lanka crisis: donate now

For more information contact:

In Sri Lanka, Malcolm Rodgers +94 773 315 515
In the UK, Sean Kenny +447766 443 506