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Spending review reaction: lessons should be learnt from the developing world.

The World Development Movement reacted critically to the announcements saying that for 30 years developing countries had faced the same austerity measures which led to more poverty and more injustice for the poorest people. It also said that it was deeply deceptive that climate finance and the Green Investment Bank were being touted as 'good news stories' by the coalition government.

 Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:

 Resisting austerity: lessons from the developing world

"The experience of austerity measures imposed on developing countries should sound alarm bells for us all. These measures are not a new innovation; they were cooked up by Thatcher and Reagan in the 1980s and forced onto developing countries by the IMF and World Bank. The effects were devastating: inequality, poverty and injustice increased as public services and welfare spending were slashed.

 "Recently, such policies have been completely discredited; even the World Bank and IMF held their hands up and said they got it wrong. Countries, like Malaysia and Vietnam, that resisted the austerity measures remained far less vulnerable than those that had to succumb to these failed economic prescriptions. If we don’t resist this illogical...

Cuts: painful, illogical, and unjust

We sit in anticipation of the full extent of the cuts today. Of course, they’re only the headlines, and one can only guess at how they’ll play out over time. People (on the right) tell us not to worry: they’ll be painful, but necessary.

We’re also told to stop whinging: Look, international development spending is being protected, they say! Aside from the fact that this isn’t really accurate – there’s no new money for climate change for developing countries, for example, and DFID’s budget will be focussed on areas where there is a “security” threat for the UK, meaning its budget will now subsidise cuts in other areas such as defence – it’s the wider trends that leave a very bitter aftertaste.

Globally, we are actually very prosperous – the financial crisis doesn’t really mean that there is less money in the world to spend – it means that we have chosen to prioritise profit for the few over human well-being for the many. Banks are currently preparing £7 billion bonus packages, thirteen times the grants expenditure of Comic Relief, the Disasters Emergency Committee, Oxfam, the British Heart Foundation and MacMillan Cancer Relief put together. Or the total UK aid budget.

The austerity measures being pushed today, and elsewhere in Europe – Ireland,...

We should learn from the experience of the failed structural adjustment policies of the 1980s and 1990s

In a characteristically brilliant article, George Monbiot today argues that the cuts that George Osborne will announce tomorrow as a result of the comprehensive spending review is a classic example of what Naomi Klein calls disaster capitalism:

In her book The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein shows how disaster capitalism was conceived by the extreme neoliberals at the University of Chicago. These people believed that the public sphere should be eliminated, that business should be free to do as it wants, and almost all tax and social spending should be stopped. They believed that total personal freedom in a completely free market produces a perfect economy and perfect relationships. It was a utopian system as fanatical as any developed by a religious cult. And it was profoundly unpopular. For a long time its only supporters were the heads of multinational corporations and a few wackos in the US government."


Essentially, disaster capitalism works by exploiting a situation when ordinary people are disoriented and confused – a financial crisis, for example – to push through unpopular policies like deregulation,...

Virgin and WDM: unlikely bedfellows

Kate Blagojevic, used to be press officer

I am sure there are few things that Richard Branson and WDM agree upon; one is the preceding sentence and the second is that excessive speculation by banks and hedge funds exacerbated the food crisis in 2008.

That's all i can think of so in short WDM and Virgin have little in common: WDM has campaigned for the aviation industry's emissions and subsidies to be cut, and on a personal note, Richard Branson throwing Kate Moss over his shoulder and the sexism rife in Virgin ads all make me cross, so it was somewhat surprising to hear conversations about 'a great letter in the Economist from Branson' in the office. But it was true, and regarding this letter in which Branson took The Economist to task over its some of its analysis on the effects of excessive speculation on the price of food and oil.

The OECD report to which Branson refers claims that there is no link between speculation and food prices is widely touted by the banks, and others who oppose reform and regulation which seems to include the Tory party. From Virgin to the World Bank to UNCTAD to the FAO to the UN expert on Food to the US government and to the French government and...

WDM looks at why the MDGs are not being met in Africa

The progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals is being discussed at a summit in New York. The goals were set in 2000 with a target of meeting them by 2015. Ten years later, it's clear that progress in many areas is slow, espeicially for countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where over half the population continues to live in abject poverty.

Deborah Doane, director of UK based, anti-poverty campaigners, the World Development Movement explains why:
“With only five years to reach the Millennium Development Goals, leaders of rich countries need to get beyond inspirational speeches, and pledging more aid money that never arrives. Heads of State are delivering rhetoric but little else.
 

"They need to address the root causes of poverty that simply aren’t being mentioned: including an unfair trading system, unjust debt burdens and the biggest elephant in the room: climate change. If governments continue to dodge these thorny issues, then ultimately, MDG project will be doomed to failure.”
 

The World Development Movement believes that the lack of progress can be attributed to three central failures by rich countries which are neglecting people in sub-Saharan Africa in particular, but are also failing to address inequality between...

UK ‘climate aid' threatens to reverse debt relief wins for developing countries

The UK government has come under fire for delivering 75 per cent of its climate finance for developing countries as loans, which WDM warns threatens to reverse decades of hard-fought progress on debt relief.

Rich countries claimed a key success of the Copenhagen Accord was the announcement of $30 billion of new climate finance that would be given over 2010 - 2012 to developing countries. But WDM argues that the UN Adaptation Fund, set up specifically to manage climate finance, has received just one per cent of money committed so far by donors, leaving it with insufficient resources to respond to the urgent need of countries to adapt to climate change.

Pakistan has applied to the UN Fund for financial help so that it can improve drainage systems to help cope with events such as the devastating floods currently ravaging the country.

The campaigners say the UN is struggling to provide assistance to countries like Pakistan because rich countries are channelling finance through the World Bank, which has received 40 per cent of the funds committed by donors so far.

The UK comes in line for particular criticism from the campaigners because so far 90 per cent of the UK’s climate finance pledges have been channelled through the World Bank. The World Bank is...

Climate debt questions and answers

This briefing provides answers to a range of questions related to climate debt, including:

  • Why does the UK owe a climate debt?
  • Why is the climate debt campaign important?
  • How can the climate debt be paid?
  • How is the UK government using climate finance to reinforce existing inequalities?
  • How much does the UK owe?
  • What's so bad about the World Bank?
  • How can we pay our climate debt in a time of austerity?

Download the briefing (PDF format)

A long way to go

This report analyses how rich countries are meeting their commitments to provide $30 billion in fast start climate finance between 2010 and 2012. It shows that of the money committed so far, 42 per cent is to be given to the World Bank, 47 per cent is to be given to programmes which will give loans, and less than 1 per cent is to be given to the UN Adaptation Fund.

Thank you for sending a pound to the UN Adaptation Fund

Your payment is now complete and will appear on your bank statement as the 'World Development Movement'.

Got another few minutes to spare?

If you have a couple of more minutes to spare, please help us by sending an email to Andrew Mitchell, demanding that any future climate finance is given as grants, not loans.

WDM's climate debt campaign

Through our climate debt campaign we want to ensure the UK fairly pays the compensation it owes for causing climate change, instead of using it to reinforce existing global inequalities, by propping up the World Bank and forcing new loans onto developing countries.

Find out more about the campaign

 

 

 

WDM is 40! Help us build on our proud succeses

Support our appeal and help us achieve another forty years of campaign success by donating now

Join WDM in celebrating forty years of successfully fighting for justice for the world’s poor. With your help, we have exposed injustice, held corporations to account and stopped harmful government policies; winning lasting change for the world’s poorest people.

From our famous victory in the 1994 Pergau Dam court case, which forced the government to stop conditional aid spending, to spearheading the campaign that led to debt cancellation for many of the world's poorest countries, WDM has always punched above its weight.

WDM campaigners during the historic Pergau Dam campaign

Four decades on, WDM’s work remains vital. Over the last 20 years globalisation has slowed economic progress in many developing countries, benefiting the few while millions still live in poverty. Recently, the financial crisis and rising food prices have driven...

An alternative to World Bank climate loans

Tim Jones, used to be policy officer

Some of us may have been surprised to wake up this morning to hear that a hosepipe ban may be introduced soon in north-west England following a lack of rain. For the past few years the ‘weather story’ in the UK has been one of cold, wet summers. Those unable to distinguish between ‘weather’ and ‘climate’ have used this story to spread absurd falsities about climate change, such as the Conservative MEP who told me “the world has been in a cooling phase for the last ten years”.

Maybe the lack of rain in the north-west of England will open the mainstream media’s eyes to the true climate story which continues unabated. The decade just ended was the warmest ever recorded. 2010 is so far on track to be the warmest year ever.

Across the world we continue to see how these changes in climate affect real people. India has been suffering from a heat-wave, with temperatures reaching almost 50°C. The monsoon has made a stuttering start, after one of India’s worst ever droughts last year. Over 2 million people have been displaced from their homes by extreme floods in China.

But there...

Thank you from the Justice and Equity Working Group, Bangladesh

Dear WDM activists and supporters

My name is Md Shamsuddoha and I work for the Justice and Equity Working Group in Bangladesh.

Earlier this year, I wrote to WDM supporters asking them to email Douglas Alexander about a deal their government was proposing to help Bangladesh cope with the devastating effects of climate change in Bangladesh. Thousands of people across the UK took part in the action, asking the UK not to attach conditions to the money. They also demanded that the money should not go through the unfair World Bank, but that instead it be delivered in a way that is accountable to local people. 

Since these emails were sent, along side other campaigning in both Bangladesh and the UK, the position of DfID has shifted. Though the deal is not exactly as we were asking for, it is a lot closer to what we feel is fair.

I believe these changes only happened due to joint and parallel campaigning in the UK and Bangladesh. Sending thousands of letters to the UK minister really matters, and I'm very much pleased to give my sincere regards and thanks to supporters of WDM who sent emails. It has ensured we’re moving towards a deal that is much fairer and that will help...

Government won’t be the greenest ever by turning off its lights.

David Cameron has announced today that his government will be the 'greenest government' ever. We welcome the sentiment but we are sceptical and said that ‘history will judge this government on its green credentials by its policies to cut the UK’s emissions dramatically and getting a fair international climate deal, not by turning off its lights at night.’

Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:

"The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition has brought some progress for achieving climate justice. Whilst it's welcome that central government has pledged to cut its emissions by 10 per cent, history will judge this government on its green credentials by its policies to cut the UK’s emissions dramatically and getting a fair international climate deal, not by turning off its lights at night. It doesn't take the scale of the problem seriously, any suggestion that blue and yellow means green government are premature because there are so many unanswered questions about the policies.


"The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition has brought some campaign successes for climate justice. But it has also left a lot of unanswered questions, and media reports...

General election Government won’t be the greenest ever by turning off its lights.

14 May 2010

David Cameron has announced today that his government will be the 'greenest government' ever. We welcome the sentiment but we are sceptical and said that ‘history will judge this government on its green credentials by its policies to cut the UK’s emissions dramatically and getting a fair international climate deal, not by turning off its lights at night.’

Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:

"The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition has brought some progress for achieving climate justice. Whilst it's welcome that central government has pledged to cut its emissions by 10 per cent, history will judge this government on its green credentials by its policies to cut the UK’s emissions dramatically and getting a fair international climate deal, not by turning off its lights at night. It doesn't take the scale of the problem seriously, any suggestion that blue and yellow means green government are premature because there are so many unanswered questions about the policies.


"The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition has brought some campaign successes for climate justice. But it has also left a lot of unanswered questions, and media reports suggesting that...

Government won’t be the greenest ever by turning off its lights.

David Cameron has announced today that his government will be the 'greenest government' ever. We welcome the sentiment but we are sceptical and said that ‘history will judge this government on its green credentials by its policies to cut the UK’s emissions dramatically and getting a fair international climate deal, not by turning off its lights at night.’

Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:

"The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition has brought some progress for achieving climate justice. Whilst it's welcome that central government has pledged to cut its emissions by 10 per cent, history will judge this government on its green credentials by its policies to cut the UK’s emissions dramatically and getting a fair international climate deal, not by turning off its lights at night. It doesn't take the scale of the problem seriously, any suggestion that blue and yellow means green government are premature because there are so many unanswered questions about the policies.


"The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition has brought some campaign successes for climate justice. But it has also left a lot of unanswered questions, and media reports suggesting that blue and yellow = green government seem potentially premature."

The...

Bolivia blog 9: 'Living well' and the World Bank

Last night, I met with Marcos from CIPCA, an organisation working with small farming communities around Bolivia, looking at the impacts of climate change and how to deal with it, at both a practical and policy level. We were discussing the Cochabamba cumbre and the resulting Cochabamba Accord, 'The People's Accord', that will be submitted to the UNFCCC.  


“What do you think of the Bolivian concepts of Vivir Bien ['living well'], and Mother Earth Rights that are being put forward to the UN,” he asked, “What do you think people in Europe think of them?” I paused before answering, wanting to be honest.
 
“To me, the concepts seem instinctive, but, truthfully, I think people in Europe find them hard to take seriously, they snigger – in part because of the name. I think for many people it has connotations of new age hippies," I tired to explain, "Which of course is ridiculous given that the concept of Pachamama has been around through the history of indigenous people.”
 
Marcos nodded, knowingly, “I think the easiest way to understand it is to think about...

Bolivia blog 5: Climate debt, we're not all in this together

To the 'people of the world' gathered in Cochabamba, its becoming increasingly clear that climate change is not just an environmental issue but a matter of justice. This week, hearing the testimonies of people from across the world where the impacts of climate change are already pervading into daily reality, has been incredibly powerful. But climate justice is not just about the impacts of climate change, but also impacts from the causes of climate change; the deforestation that destroys the way of life for forest peoples, extraction of fossil fuels, all too often being pushed through the neo-liberal policies of institutions like the World Bank, and mined by transnational corporations, with no concern for the impacts of local people. Even many of the solutions being proposed and implemented are pushing people into displacement and deeper poverty. As I heard one African speaker said today, “As long as they keep pushing false solutions, the climate debt continues to increase.”

Namoi Klein talking on panel

This morning I saw Naomi Klein...

Bolivia blog3: Ten years on from the Cochabamba Water Wars

This weekend Cochabamba celebrated the tenth anniversary of its water wars. The small city, nestled at the foothills of the Andean mountain ranges, previously little known to the outside world, suddenly shot to fame in 2000 when cochabambinos forced Bechtel, a giant American corporation, out of town. Bechtel, under a subsidiary called Agua del Tunari, had taken over the town’s water supply in privatisation deal, pushed by the World Bank, that caused water rates to rise by over fifty percent in a matter of weeks. Taking place shortly after the ‘Battle in Seattle’ in 1999 and just before the G8 in Genoa in 2001, two iconic moments in the battle against the imposition of neo-liberal policies on the global south, the struggle in Cochabamba became an inspiration to people across the world, demonstrating what a small group of determined people could achieve.

two statues from the water campaign standing against a painted coke background
Two statues reading 'sin agua, no hay vida' (without water, there is no life') and '10 anos de lucha' (10 years of struggle)

The water wars bought together campesinos from the rural...

Bolivian Blog 2: First Impressions

Arriving in a new country is often a total sensory overload: sights, sounds, smells. And then, as you quickly get used to it, things that had once, not long before, seemed so different and fascinating fast become so normal you barely even notice them. With this in mind, having just arrived in Bolivia this evening, I thought I’d try to capture some of my feelings and thoughts.

Bolivia is a country that has long fascinated me, and I’m excited to be here. There’s a sense in the air of something exciting coming together, people from so many diverse backgrounds and experiences meeting to discuss where next for the global climate justice movement in a way that brings the people who should be at the heart of the discussions back into the picture. If this happens as intended, it will be quite the opposite of my experience at the flawed UN climate talks in Copenhagen when, by the end of the two week negotiations, the majority of civil society delegations were literally locked out of the proceedings, and even most southern government country delegations weren’t able to enter the room where the Copenhagen Accord was being negotiations.

...

Tories and Labour criticised over development policies ahead of World Poverty Day

Over the weekend, party leaders will focus on global poverty as the battle for hearts and minds heats up in the election race. But a ranking carried out by the World Development Movement reveals that none of the three main parties score well on their plans to tackle key international development issues.

The Conservatives fare particularly poorly (3 out of 10), Labour (5 out of 10) and the Liberal Democrats (6 out of a 10) receive a middling rating. The Greens (8 out of 10) come out on top on issues such as trade justice, international aid and IMF reform.

Julian Oram, the World Development Movement's head of policy commented:
"We’re sure to hear a lot of noble words around World Poverty Day from the leaders, and it’s heartening that they all rate the issue as an election theme. But when you look at how the three main parties actually plan to tackle poverty in the world today, you’ll see a considerable gap between the grand posturing of the leaders and the stunted ambition of the policies they actually hold.

"For example, anti-poverty campaigners have been shocked by the Conservative party’s admission that part of the aid budget under a Tory government could be used for British military operations in developing countries. And Labour’s promise to help...

Blog post: UK campaigners force UK to abstain but World Bank coal loan still goes through

Alex Wood, used to be Campaigns and Policy Assistant

On Thursday 8 April, the World Bank Board approved a $3.75 billion loan to the South African energy giant Eskom. The loan was opposed by an international coalition of 200 civil society groups lead by 65 South African social and environmental organisations. Despite a huge amount of green spin from the World Bank the core element of this loan is $3.05 billion for the completion of the 4800 MW Medupi coal-fired power station which will be the fourth biggest coal power station in the world.

The loan comes at a time when it is imperative that the world cuts its addiction to carbon and especially coal. South African civil society is resisting the loan as it will increase South Africa’s already high level of debt by 5 per cent. This debt is especially problematic as, being in dollars, it leaves South Africa further exposed to the perils of exchange rate fluctuations.

Civil society is also protesting that the loan will further entrench Eskom’s monopoly which has allowed it to provide below cost energy to some of the biggest corporations in the world, while the poor pay around four times as much per unit of energy. There are also serious corruption allegations that the ANC will receive millions of dollars...

Blog post: World Bank coal loan to South Africa? No thanks!

Patrick Bond and Desmond D'Sa

It is very important for Brits to not only keep the coal in the hole at home, as so many activists are doing. It's also the responsibility of the British citizen to watch your tax monies, and if via the World Bank they fund climate destruction, poverty and privatisation, to please speak out. 

The World Bank’s fossil fuel portfolio is the world's largest, and in 2004 the Bank board rejected its own internal Extractive Industries Review mandate to 'phase out' oil, gas and coal investments. Now, Bank president Robert Zoellick - a neoconservative ideologue (central to the Project for a New American Century) who served as an Enron advisor, Goldman Sachs official and US Trade representative (when he wrecked the WTO's Doha Round) - claims he is building a 'Climate Bank'. 

Zoellick will undermine any such claim on April 8 when the Bank Board is expected to approve a $3.75 billion loan to the South African electricity utility Eskom, to build the world’s fourth largest coal-fired power plant, Medupi.

Repaying the finance for Medupi and the next coal-fired plant (the world's third largest) will require a 127% real electricity price increase through 2012...

Blog post: Give your vote and help global accountability

May Abdalla

As Gordon Brown makes his visit to Her Majesty to call a UK election, there is a parallel campaign unfolding in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Ghana.

While we have TV debates over tax, school budgets and prison reforms, people on the streets of Kabul, Dhaka and Accra will be discussing the policies of Brown, Cameron and Clegg with respect to climate change, development, trade and war. Thousands of people directly affected by UK policies will be using votes donated by UK citizens to be part of the process deciding their futures before casting a vote in the May 6 election.

I’m part of a team of volunteers working across four countries rewiring this election to give democracy a place in our global world.

Democracy means a lot more than a vote. Democracy means that we - the people - are the ultimate leaders in our political system. Politicians are accountable to us, and we are part of the decisions that affect our lives.

Nowhere is democracy more absent than at the international level. There is no democracy when deciding issues of climate change, trade or war.

Ghana is one of Africa’s most celebrated democracies and the first to achieve independence in 1953. In Ghana the rice staple is American, local water is sold through a...

Blog post: 'Vote Global' to make the world economy work for the poor

Tim Gee

It is 12 months since 35,000 people took to the streets, days before the London G20 Summit, for the Put People First march, calling for decent work, an end to global poverty and a safe climate.

The march was a result of an unprecedented civil society alliance, spanning international development NGOs, faith groups, unions and domestic charities, highlighting the negative impact of unregulated markets on a range of issues.

When the summit outcome was released the G20 communiqué did not deliver the break from ‘business as usual’ that the movement called for. In particular, governments did not seize the opportunity to signal the transition to a green economy and concrete plans for increasing the accountability of the IMF were not forthcoming.

However, other announcements clearly showed the impact of the campaign and were cautiously welcomed, including funds for poor countries, and increasing the transparency of tax havens.

Most promisingly though, the summit signalled a sharp change in rhetoric as Gordon Brown proclaimed the Washington Consensus to be ‘dead’.

Campaigning pressure began to have an impact when G20 leaders’ met again in September. There they tasked the IMF to investigate instruments for a Financial Transaction...

World Bank fuelling dirty energy

In solidarity with campaigners in South Africa, WDM has joined a call to the UK government to say no to a World Bank proposal to provide a $3.75 billion loan to South African energy giant Eskom. The project, which Eskom want to use as an excuse to raise rates for people living in South Africa, would increase energy poverty and cause environmental destruction that would hit the poorest people in South Africa hardest.

The project would also increase debt for South Africa which would fall most heavily on the poorest people. Furthermore, the proposal highlights why it is completely hypocritical for the World Bank to be involved in administering funds provided to help tackle climate change. 

WDM are calling for the UK, which is the biggest single donor to the World Bank, to vote against this loan. Below you can read our joint letter asking that Douglas Alexander votes against World Bank funds going towards Eskom’s venture.

Read more about the campaign in South Africa

Dear Secretary of State

Re: Proposed World Bank loan to Eskom, South Africa

We are writing to urge that the UK vote against the proposed $3.75 billion loan to Eskom for the Medupi coal-fired power...

Five ideas for a new world order

Kidtronic wants new world order

Global capitalism has entered a fundamental crisis of legitimacy, triggered by a ‘perfect storm’ of the banking meltdown, rising energy costs and a spike in world food prices. Governments in the world’s richest countries are looking on in horror as the debt and fossil-fuelled fantasies on which they have built their political mythologies crumble around them.

Amongst those witnessing the recent self-immolation of the financial system have been the world’s two billion poorest people, for whom the credit crunch is a permanent way of life. As a grim footnote to the main headlines about down-and-out bankers, the UN’s distinctly unglamorous Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) recently announced that rising food prices have plunged an additional 75 million people below the hunger threshold in the past year. This has brought the estimated number of undernourished people to a staggering 923 million worldwide.

This is the real evidence that 30 years of financial deregulation, trade liberalisation and reckless fossil fuel consumption has failed spectacularly to deliver just or sustainable progress. The end of the end of history...

General election: Vote for global justice

Ahead of the 2010 UK general election, WDM policy officer Tim Jones gives a snapshot of where the parties stand on issues that affect the world’s poorest people.

WDM and over 100 other organisations have challenged the major political parties to back a development manifesto, Vote Global. So how do the main parties stack up on key global poverty issues?

Trade justice

For the past thirty years imposition of free trade across much of the developing world has hindered economic growth and increased poverty and inequality. In contrast, countries that have been able to resist free trade have managed to cut poverty and increase employment. Since 1997, the Labour government has supported the EU, WTO, IMF and World Bank pushing free trade on developing countries.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats also support free trade and the current unfair round of world trade negotiations. The Green Party is distinct in calling for “fair trade not free trade” and for committing to push for reform of aggressive EU trade policies. Plaid Cymru also recognise the injustices of current international trade.

More and better aid

Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, SNP and Plaid Cymru all support spending 0.7 per cent of UK income on aid...

Blog post: Don’t lock Bangladesh into poverty - protests today in London and Dhaka

Earlier today, WDM held a protest outside the Department for International Development to oppose the UK’s plans for how climate finance should be administered; plans that WDM are concerned would lock Bangladesh into further poverty.

Lots of people with chains holding a pink WDM banner
Protest outside Dfid this morning - UK symbolically locking Bangladesh in chains

The protest, which bought together different groups, including Jubilee Debt Campaign and the Bangladeshi diaspora group, European Action Group on Climate Change in Bangladesh, was held in solidarity with campaigners in Bangladesh who were simultaneously creating a human chain outside the Bangladesh Development Forum in Dhaka, which the UK government is attending. The UK’s Department for International Development has said it wants Bangladesh to make a decision on the proposed deal, called the Multi Donor Trust Fund, during this meeting. However, the deal in its current form is being strongly resisted by Bangladeshi civil society and government because of concerns about how the money would be administered.

The Department for International...

Bangladesh resisting climate finance over World Bank involvement

A politically embarrassing stand off is developing as Bangladesh is currently resisting the UK's offer of £60 million of climate finance.

Bangladesh is believed to be resisting the UK's climate finance offer of £60 million due to the UK's insistence that it must be channelled through the World Bank. The UK is pressurising the Bangladeshi government into accepting the finance whilst refusing to consider other managers of the funds, such as through a Bangladeshi fund, which has greater transparency and participation by civil society.

Campaigners from the European Action Group on Climate Change Bangladesh, the World Development Movement and Jubilee Debt Campaign, this morning held a protest outside the Department for International Development on Monday to tell DfID not to force the World Bank on to Bangladesh. At the same time, campaigners in Dhaka in Bangladesh held a mass rally and formed a human chain around the donor conference where the UK has imposed a deadline on the Bangladeshi government to accept their conditions.

The UK is further insisting that the Bangladeshi government provides its own money for the fund, likely to drive the country further into debt. Later in the year, the UK will be giving further money to Bangladesh through the World Bank to...

Climate cash coming from aid budget

The World Development Movement has been long critical of the government's pledges for climate finance and international development aid, and has been pressing the government for more information about the small print behind the announcements of cash.

In an email exchange with WDM yesterday that has been reported in the Guardian and BBC,  the Department for International Development (DfID) admitted that the £1.5 billion pledged by Gordon Brown in Copenhagen would all be siphoned from the existing aid budget meant for anti-poverty programmes, like health, education and public water provision in the developing world.

WDM is calling for climate finance to be additional to aid money from the government as compensation for the climate damage that emissions from rich countries are causing developing countries.

Tim Jones, policy officer at the World Development Movement said:“The UK government has publicly said 90 per cent of money for tackling climate change should be additional to existing aid commitments. But all of the UK’s climate change money is being diverted from international aid. The UK has a...

Blog post: Understanding Haiti

Like many ‘natural disasters’, the earthquake in Haiti may have had a natural cause, but what has made it such a disaster was more political and economic than tectonic.

Cheaply constructed buildings, a lack of basic services and infrastructure, and a lack of the resources to deal with the aftermath are all the result of a deep poverty which rich countries bear a huge responsibility for.

Haiti was originally a French slave colony until an inspiring uprising by the slaves themselves kicked out the French and established a free republic there in 1804. Yet in 1825, in return for international recognition, Haiti agreed to pay France ‘reparations’ for the loss of the colony and its slaves. This debt, worth $21 billion in today’s money, was not finally paid off until 1947.

Haiti was occupied by the US between the wars, and afterwards suffered decades of dictatorship by the Duvalier family. ‘Papa Doc’ and his son ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier took huge international loans, part of which they stole for themselves, and which they also used to fund their death squads and repressive state. Like many dictatorships during the Cold War, the west supported them for their anti-Communism and turned a blind eye to their abuses.

After popular protest in 1986, democracy was...

Guest blog post: Pirates of the Caribbean

This is a guest post by Adam Ramsay who writes for the blog brightgreenscotland.org

It was President Eisenhower, I think, who coined the phrase “The Military Industrial Complex”. West Wing geeks know why he did so: if he couldn’t dismantle the monster he had helped create, he could at least describe it.

Naomi Klein’s book “The Shock Doctrine” describes what she calls “disaster capitalism”. Klein tells us how, the day after the Asian tsunami, tourist developers sent in armed security guards to mark out and claim newly cleared land they had long coveted. Apparently some people were physically prevented from returning home to collect the bodies of their children (The Shock Doctrine, p402).

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, an aging Milton Friedman wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal describing the hurricane as an opportunity to privatise schools. When the grieving residents of New Orleans returned home, they discovered that Bush’s government had taken advantage of the crisis. It had introduced policies they would have otherwise fought tooth & nail - asset stripping their public sector,...

Campaigners demand complete debt cancellation for Haiti

After Tuesday’s earthquake, which has left up to 50,000 people dead, WDM has joined the Jubilee Debt Campaign in calling for an urgent cancellation of all of Haiti's remaining debt.

"The poverty that already exists in Haiti will be even more devastating as a result of this emergency and it clearly requires high levels of aid to combat it. This should also come with wholesale debt cancellation and the need to need to ensure that aid is given in the form of genuine grants as opposed to traditional IMF-backed loans, which would undoubtedly worsen an already dire situation", said Julian Oram, Head of Policy at WDM.

We welcome the cancellation of two thirds ($1.2 billion) of Haiti’s debt in 2009, but condemn the fact that the country still has $641 million in debt on its books and in 2010 is projected to pay around $10million to International Financial Institutions.

We also think that the International Monetary Fund’s proposed offer of $100 million in new lending to Haiti is completely inappropriate. Even though lent at very concessional rates of interest, the proposal contradicts the IMF’s own policy recommendations that Haiti should not borrow more money because, even after debt cancellation, its potential for debt distress remains high.
...

Blog post: China, climate justice and Mark Lynas

Kate Blagojevic, used to be Press Officer

The post-Copenhagen showdown has featured politicians, NGOs and commentators like George Monbiot and Mark Lynas slogging it out over whether to blame the US or China, for the lack of progress in Copenhagen. All reminiscent of our 2007 report; Blame it on China?

Yesterday it got a little more personal when Mark Lynas, in the New Statesman, suggested that it is wrong to call for climate justice. Mark accuses the World Development Movement of saying “anything calling into question the roles of developing countries must be a plot by the rich former colonial powers”. I have trawled our website and can't remember writing that. Perhaps he is referring to the fact that we were tough on Obama;...

Copenhagen blog 14: Join the movement

Tim Jones, used to be policy officer

From Copenhagen

Last night I had my first decent sleep since Sunday. Having been stuck in the Bella Centre for most of the week, yesterday was the first time I had been out in daylight since last Monday.

I am one of the lucky ones; when final negotiations were happening on Saturday morning, Ed Miliband probably hadn't slept since Wednesday night.

It was into this tiredness that President Obama cast his judgement on the fate of millions of people. Late on Friday, he announced to the world's media that a consensus deal had been struck. With reports of a 'meaningful' deal on the front pages of a major news website, the propoganda war had begun.

But it soon became apparent that the President had lied to the world. The 'deal' was between just four countries . The EU couldn't decide what it thought. Most developing countries were in complete confusion about what was happening.

I joined queues of people at photocopiers in the Bella Centre trying to get their hands on 'the deal'. I thought I was out of the loop, until I saw many country negotiators behind me trying to find out what had been agreed in their name.

Last week we...

Copenhagen ‘deal’ is a ‘shameful and monumental failure’

The UK based, anti poverty campaigners, the World Development Movement branded the Copenhagen talks as a ‘shameful and monumental failure.’ 
 
Tim Jones, climate policy officer at the World Development Movement said:
 “This summit has been in complete disarray from start to finish, culminating in a shameful and monumental failure that has condemned millions of people around the world to untold suffering. The leaders of rich countries have refused to lead. They have been captured by business interests at a time when people need leaders to put justice first."

“Rich countries have failed the poorest people in the world and history will judge them harshly. They have failed to offer the emissions cuts that science and justice requires. To say that this ‘deal’ is in any way historic or meaningful is to completely misrepresent the fact that this ‘deal’ is meaningless."

President Obama has presented a ‘deal’ in the form of a Copenhagen Accord. However, it was drafted with participation from just a small number of countries, the majority of them rich. Several developing countries have refused to sign, and it has not been adopted as a UN agreement.

"Countries have been right to resist the signing of the Accord. It would be better to...

Catalogue of bullying and bribery by rich countries at climate talks revealed

A catalogue of bribery and bullying tactics are being used against developing countries in an attempt to force through a deal at all costs at the Copenhagen talks campaigners revealed today.

UK based, anti-poverty campaigners, the World Development movement said that developing countries are being bribed in numerous ways, including by threatening that international aid and finance for adapting to the impacts of climate change would only be delivered if countries cooperated with developed countries' demands.

The campaigners are arguing that there is no hope for a deal with justice at its heart, and so no deal would be better than forcing through a bad deal.

The campaigners have compared the kinds of tactics used by developed countries to those that take place in World Trade Organisation negotiations, which are widely viewed as notoriously undemocratic, unaccountable and immoral. And they say that the UN talks have been 'darkened by blatant bullying by rich countries saving face, but not the climate.'

Tim Jones, climate policy officer at the World Development movement said:
"It's absolutely scandalous that developing countries are being told that international aid and finance to cope with the impacts of climate change is dependent on cooperation...

Think Global January 2010

Welcome to the January 2010 issue of Think Global and take our urgent action on climate finance in Bangladesh.

We are campaigning in solidarity with the Equity and Justice Working group in Bangladesh and are calling on the UK government to rethink money for climate change adaptation going through the World Bank.  In addition we are demanding that this money is disbursed as grants, rather than as loans which will further add to Bangladesh's debt burden. 

Download the template letter below and write to Douglas Alexander.

 

 

Facts behind the climate finance figures

The issue of climate finance is a Copenhagen deal breaker for developing countries, and much has been made by Gordon Brown and yesterday, Hillary Clinton, on the need for climate finance.

Both have put forward figures to 'help' developing countries cope with the impact of climate change. But the World Development Movement’s analysis shows that the facts behind the figures add ‘insult to injury' for developing countries. Of the $100 billion 'announced' yesterday by Hillary Clinton, half or more would be financed by carbon trading and developing countries.

Tim Jones, climate policy expert at the World Development Movement said:

“The small print behind the head line grabbing figures adds insult to injury for developing countries. Money that is being announced here is diverted from existing aid budgets; given as loans not aid; and is being financed through a flaw ridden offset scheme. What we need to see is developed countries admitting their historic responsibility for the problem that has brought us all here and offer compensation to developing countries, not bribery, bullying and belligerence.”

The World Development Movement’s analysis reveals that:

Short term finance (2010-2012)

The EU and US are calling for $...

Copenhagen blog 8: Justice deemed too political in Copenhagen


On Monday, WDM joined climate debt campaigners from across the world to call for the rich world to repay its climate debt. People from Nepal, Indonesia, Brazil, the Philippines, Argentina, Ecuador and Nigeria gathered outside the Bella Centre, where the UN talks are being hosted. WDM South-west London and South Lakes also joined in.

The debt must be repaid in a way that doesn’t reinforce existing inequality, or go through undemocratic organisations like the World Bank. Climate debt is not only about reparations for the damage already done, but also about massive cuts in emissions, and sharing solutions instead of creating new markets of out the atmosphere. As one person said “The World Bank have already done too much wrong to the south, how can we trust them?”

Climate debt protest
 
The energy was amazing, “Pay up pay up pay up, pay up the climate debt” the crowd chanted, louder and louder, as the snow fell around Jubilee South’s giant masks that were representing the EU and the US, surrounded by a multitude of flags...

Copenhagen blog 7: Where are the Pacific Islands?

Kate Blagojevic, used to be press officer, writes from Copenhagen

There is outrage in Copenhagen over a lot of different issues that include tar sands; climate finance; the World Bank; coal; nuclear; carbon trading and the very imminent plight of the small island states. There are of course a lot of sensitivities, politics and high feeling amongst the thousands of people from all over the world who have recently descended on this small city for an intense two weeks of negotiations.

The Danish organisers have committed several faux pas already of course, with the leaked draft text that caused uproar and upset. But it appears that even in an attempt to decorate this vast, maze like conference centre, more international anger has been sparked.
 
On the giant inflatable globe in the middle of the centre, the small island states of the Cook Islands and Pacific Islands are nowhere to be seen. To be clear this is not a futuristic scenario that the globe is supposed to be highlighting. More embarrassingly, it appears that they have been forgotten. In an international meeting, to forget to include these islands which are imminently threatened by sea level rises is causing a diplomatic problem that will not be easily solved.
 
Delegates and civil...

Copenhagen blog 5: The money is on the table

Tim Jones, former WDM policy officer, writes from Copenhagen

Along the streets of Copenhagen there are happily parked bikes with no locks. With my locked bike stolen a few weeks ago, I am jealous of the bike safety which permeates the Danish capital.

The main news in Copenhagen is from Brussels. Gordon Brown and Nicholas Sarkozy are making the headlines with ‘€2.4 billion [£1.5 billion] a year to help poor countries tackle climate change’.

If you read...

Copenhagen blog 4: Bribing for a deal

Tim Jones, used to be policy officer, writes from Copenhagen

Off a train. Onto a bus. Into a convention centre with thousands of people. Faces everywhere. Frowning faces, happy faces, confused faces. Lots of confused faces. 

Sitting on a green sofa I bump into Dwijen, a friend from a walk we went on a couple of years ago. Dwijen works with communities in Bangladesh already suffering from climate change.

One of the key issues in Copenhagen is ‘short-term finance’; money in the next few years to help developing countries adapt to climate change and cut emissions. For people in Bangladesh, it is vital to get more resources now to deal with the already increasingly devastating floods.

Unfortunately the UK government knows this. Climate secretary Ed Miliband and international development secretary Douglas Alexander were both in Bangladesh in September. ‘Unfortunate’ you say, ‘surely it’s a good thing UK politicians know what is happening in Bangladesh?’

The UK is using the prospect of money now to split developing countries, and force through agreements the UK likes. There’s nothing like desperate need to bring countries into line.

One objective...

WDM's 'Copenhagen Watch' - take action, fast.

We need people to act fast for real results to get a deal with justice at its heart. Already the climate talks have a distinct stench of scandal over the draft documents known as the Danish text, leaked to the Guardian and showing rich countries abandoning any principle of climate justice.


The document was described last night by one senior diplomat as "a very dangerous document for developing countries”. In particular, the text is understood to:
• Force developing countries to agree to specific emission cuts and measures that were not part of the original UN agreement;
• Divide poor countries further by creating a new category of developing countries called "the most vulnerable";
• Weaken the UN's role in handling climate finance, whilst strengthening the role of the World Bank;
• Not allow poor countries to emit more than 1.44 tonnes of carbon per person by 2050, while allowing rich countries to emit 2.67 tonnes;
• Make money to help countries adapt to climate change conditional on them reducing emissions.
 

This is outrageous and cannot be allowed to happen. We need you to make a noise now.
1) Email Gordon Brown calling on him to distance...

Copenhagen Blog 2: Dirty Tactics, from WTO to UNFCCC

Kirsty Wright, WDM climate justice campaigner, writes from Copenhagen.

Last night I went to the first briefing of Climate Justice Now, a network of campaigners mainly from the global south who are focusing on a just outcome on climate change. The discussion focused on sharing information from around the world on key climate justice issues within the negotiations: climate debt, the World Bank, forests, carbon trading and rich country emission levels.

Having long campaigned for trade justice, the kinds of dirty tactics used by rich governments at international negotiation to twist the arms of the global south shouldn’t come as any surprise, but I still found myself outraged to hear some of the reports from around the world.

Developing countries are facing considerable pressure from rich countries. There’s a lot of confusion around the process, and in spite of requests for clarity, the secretariat are not providing which is massively frustrating for the G77, which have nowhere near the negotiation capacity of rich countries. Rich countries are playing at politics of divide and rule, playing countries off against each other. Recently, the UK stated that rich countries...

Copenhagen blog 1: Action on climate debt in the UK

Kirsty Wright, WDM’s climate campaigner reports back on a tour around G77 embassies on her way to Copenhagen.

I write this as the train is pulling out of Cologne station. I’m on route to the UN climate talks in Copenhagen. It’s late, and I’m tired, filled with anticipation about what’s to come, and if I’m honest, also exhausted and slightly overwhelmed by the past few weeks.

In the run up to Copenhagen WDM have been working with the Jubilee Debt Campaign and activists all around the UK to make sure the government hears our demand for climate justice. In the process of becoming wealthy through a high carbon development model, the UK along with the rest of the rich world has built up an historic responsibility for causing climate change, and has left little space for the rest of the world to develop in the same way. This means we now owe a massive climate debt to the rest of the world. Over the past few weeks, thousands of people have joined us in sending climate debt invoices to Gordon Brown, along with messages of support to the G77 countries (a group of 130 developing countries negotiating together for a fair outcome in the talks). Yesterday, we delivered these messages.

...

Blog: Gordon Brown and the recurring £800 million for climate change

Tim Jones

In Trinidad on Friday Gordon Brown got some headline coverage for his latest announcement of billions of dollars for developing countries to tackle climate change.

The prime minister became as expert as a derivatives trader in repackaging, reselling and reannouncing money when he was chancellor. Unfortunately the latest ‘news’ was no exception.

Mr Brown said rich countries should be creating a ‘Copenhagen launch fund’ worth $10 billion (£6 billion) to help developing countries adapt to climate change and develop in a low carbon way from 2010 to 2012. Let’s not get hung up on that amount as he wasn’t actually saying the UK would write a cheque.

What Gordon Brown did say was that “the UK Government would contribute £800 million in total over three years, which has already been budgeted for”. In fact it was budgeted for in the budget in 2007. The prime minister should know; he was chancellor at the time.

The same £800 million has been reannounced so many times since it’s enough to make you dizzy.

The money cannot go into a ‘Copenhagen launch fund’, because all of it has already been pledged to the World Bank. Some cheques have already been sent, and the final ones are due in April.

The use of the World Bank for climate...

UK owes developing world £17 billion annual ‘climate compensation'

The UK government comes under fire today in a new report which reveals that the current climate finance proposals, likely to dominate the weekend’s G20 talks, are likely to increase third world debt, and will be 'grossly inadequate' to tackle the scale of the problem.

The report by anti-poverty groups the World Development Movement and Jubilee Debt Campaign calculates that the UK alone owes a 'climate debt' to developing countries of over £17 billion each year for its contribution to climate change – an amount that is significantly more than that pledged so far.

They issued a stark warning that the issue of climate debt will be a 'Copenhagen deal-breaker' for developing countries, and the hope of getting a fair deal hangs in the balance.

The report, 'The Climate Debt Crisis', heavily criticises the UK's current policy of channelling its 'climate aid' through the World Bank, and of promoting the World Bank as the main hub of climate finance. It condemns the World Bank for distributing climate finance as loans, not aid, and for allowing finance to be used for new coal power stations, not low carbon energy investment. The campaigners are...

Copenhagen climate summit

This December 7-18 negotiations will take place in Copenhagen in an attempt to reach an international agreement to tackle climate change.

Copenhagen Climate Summit logo

The World Development Movement, along with social movements and governments from the global south, has been calling for the UK and the rest of the rich world to repay its ‘climate debt’ at Copenhagen – the money the rich world owes to the world’s poorest people for causing climate change.

The World Development Movement will be in Copenhagen for the duration of the summit keeping an eye on the negotiations and taking part in events outside the conference centre. We’ll be blogging on this website to keep you updated.

On the 5th December we’ll also be at The Wave in London and Glasgow where tens of thousands of people will demonstrate their support for a safe climate future for all.

Repaying our climate debt at Copenhagen

The UK has grown rich on the back of burning fossil fuels, which has driven us to the point of climate catastrophe. The global south should not have to pay the price of a crisis it didn’t create.

However, rather than...

The G20: No new beginning for the world economy

At the conclusion of the G20 summit, world leaders heralded the birth of a new economic system. In reality, their plans were designed to prop up an international regime still grossly skewed towards their own economic clout and historical power.

Proposed reforms to the IMF will do little to change the balance of power in favour of the global south. Currently, twelve wealthy countries – out of 186 members – hold over half of the votes. As even Simon Johnson, former chief economist of the IMF recognised, other countries “don’t trust it because it’s US and West Europe-dominated. That’s not fair.” However, the G20 called for as little as five per cent of votes to be transferred to emerging economies. Such a move is a minimal concession to shifting economic realities, let alone democratic global governance.

The IMF has been accorded a prominent role in the handling of the financial crisis. In April, the G20 decided to increase the Fund’s lending capacity by 50 per cent to $750 billion, of which $100 billion was to go to developing countries. Then at the latest summit, it was agreed that the IMF would oversee compliance with objectives set by G20 members each year to achieve a ‘balanced’ global economy. This is a sticking plaster to deal with the devastation of...

A walk down memory lane with the World Bank,

 Historically, the World Bank has been roundly criticised by the World Development Movement and others because of its flawed policies which deepened poverty. Exactly the same critique is as pertinent as ever but relates to its policies on climate change.

In the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, the World Bank was notorious for damaging developing countries' economies by forcing them to adopt economic policies that made people poorer. The institutional problem of flawed analysis that gave the much-maligned institution its poor reputation can still be seen today when examining its policies designed to tackle climate change.

Rightly, the World Bank knows that climate change will devastate poor countries and is already increasing poverty and in its annual World Development Report released today, it called on nations to 'act differently on climate change'.

Also correctly, the World Bank says that the world's reliance on fossil fuels must be broken. But in its typically contradictory style, it is currently funding new dirty coal power stations to be built in the global south through...

The G20 road show is back in town

The G20 road show is back in town, five months after the last jamboree was held in London.

Lost in the media circus surrounding April’s G20 meetings (which at times seemed more interested in Michelle Obama’s sartorial choices and the menu at the Jamie Oliver banquet in 10 Downing Street), was important discussion about who was – and was not – in the room for the substantive talks.

As with April’s meeting, this week’s G20 finance ministers meeting continues to see only the usual suspects from large economies present and specifically only one African country (South Africa) in attendance. As Nobel prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz recently remarked, “There are 192 countries in the world, [and] 20 is a small percentage. Obviously what is necessary to respond to the crisis is not a G20 but a G192.”

But it’s not just attendance at these gatherings that needs to change; it’s the policy prescriptions that come out of them that also need to change, if we are to tackle climate change, global poverty and the spectre of rising unemployment around the world.

Amongst the rhetoric expected to flow from the G20 will be further demands for more free trade, even though free trade is associated with job losses and an undermining of local...

New Kingsnorth fatal impact on people in developing world

New stats showing Kingsnorth's impact on water, food, refugees, drought and death

A new Kingsnorth coal plant could be responsible for 100,000 more people in the developing world losing their water supply in dry seasons reveals the World Development Movement today.

The anti-poverty campaigners have released a catalogue of shocking new statistics that show the devastating human impact that carbon emissions from a new Kingsnorth plant alone could have on people in the developing world because of its contribution to climate change. The World Development Movement reveals:

  • 100,000 more people losing their dry season water supply
  • Up to 300 more people dying every year due to malnutrition
  • Up to 60,000 more people suffering from drought in Africa
  • 50,000 more people going hungry due to drought and lower crop yields
  • Up to 40,000 more people exposed to malaria
  • 20,000 people being forced our of their homes and becoming climate refugees
  • Around 30,000 more people losing their homes every year due to coastal flooding

Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:

These figures reveal, for the first time, the devastating human impact of building a new Kingsnorth coal power...

Europe-Central America trade deal responses

Thank you for taking our action to put the brakes on the EU-Central America trade deal. Some people have received a response from the European Commission and while we are not encouraging people to get into a detailed debate with the negotiators about this deal, here are a few comments in response to their email.

The EU negotiators say:

the EU and all Central American chief negotiators… renewed their commitment to come to a rapid conclusion of this Agreement

The Nicaraguan government is now back at the negotiating table but concerns are still reported amongst some Central American governments. In particular, a new government will take over in El Salvador in June and negotiations should be halted so that Central American governments can “reach a common position” as our action states. Meanwhile, civil society and trade unions in the region remain very concerned and have issued new statements demanding a halt to negotiations in May 2009.

The EU negotiators agree

to study the creation of a financial mechanism dedicated to Central America's regional development

Of course, this can be welcomed, but such a mechanism must not become a ‘carrot’ to persuade governments...

Financial Crisis

Even before the banking collapse, the world’s poor were suffering from a global economic system that produced rising hunger, inequality and the threat of climate chaos. Led by rich countries and powerful institutions such as World Bank and IMF, the world has followed an unjust and unsustainable financial model fuelled by ever-increasing financial debt and a global environmental overdraft.

Now that the bubble has burst, people around the world are losing their jobs, homes and livelihoods. Predictably though, it is the people living in some of the world’s poorest countries who have been hit the hardest – despite being the least to blame for causing the crisis.

The world’s poor are feeling the impact of the financial crisis in four main ways:

  • First, as banks stop lending, investment flows into emerging economies have evaporated, leaving governments short of funds and local enterprises lacking vital capital. Many banks in developing countries have been exposed to the same toxic debts as our own banks too.
  • Second, as the rich countries plunge into recession, demand for goods from the South has plummeted, leading to surging unemployment in countries that have geared their economies around exporting to Europe and North America. The IMF has warned that...

Rich rubbish radical reform at UN economic summit

The World Development Movement is disappointed that a UN summit set up to discuss ‘profound reform’ of the global economic system has delivered ‘more of the same' because some rich countries rubbished more progressive ideas.

The World Development Movement's policy officer, Vicky Cann said:

"The upshot of this summit is that it has delivered more of the same. But the same isn't good enough. Rich countries including the UK have rubbished some of the progressive ideas put forward by leading experts before this conference, which could genuinely have delivered profound reform of the economic system. As a result, such proposals are nowhere to be seen. This simply demonstrates again rich countries’ determination to maintain the political and economic status quo.

"Most concerning is the summit's faith that free trade will deliver a route out of the crisis, when the evidence shows that free trade and deregulated markets have been one of the most important causes of the current crisis.

"The proposals for reform of the IMF, World Bank and WTO are too weak. These institutions reinforce the elitist, outdated power relations between rich and poor countries and their policy prescriptions over the past twenty years have proved disastrous for...

Brown told: ‘Rich don’t have the answers to the crisis’ Criticism of Prime Minister’s commitment to a ‘new politics’ as he shuns the UN but attends the G8

Campaigners today criticised Gordon Brown for refusing to send a cabinet minister to the United Nations summit on the economic crisis (1), but personally attending the 'outdated and elitist' G8 meeting in July.

Jubilee Debt Campaign, the World Development Movement and War on Want argue that as the vast majority of the world’s countries are not invited to the G20 or G8 meetings, the UN summit is vital in enabling those least responsible for the crisis to make fair and effective decisions on the future of the world economy.

A commission, chaired by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, has already devised a series of radical recommendations for global economic reform, but the UK and other western governments have been trying to water down proposals, including threats of boycott and public rubbishing of the summit. There are signs that the UK has been putting pressure on developing countries to downgrade their own support for the summit. UN diplomats have revealed that British government officials have been visiting developing country capitals in order to "persuade" them not to send high ranking officials to the UN conference.

Nick Dearden from Jubilee Debt Campaign said:

“If we’re ever going to see a more just economy, the Prime Minister and...

Debt campaign

The World Development Movement has an honourable and proud record in leading the way - fighting for debt relief and the reduction of poverty around the world

Gordon Brown September 1998.

Something criminal is being done to the world's poorest countries. The World Development Movement's (WDM) debt campaign revealed evidence that leaders of rich countries collude to give developing countries an unfair deal. They force policies such as trade liberalisation, investment deregulation and privatisation onto the poor, in return for minuscule debt relief.

Martin Powell and the Daleks

The debt campaign called for:

  • an end to the unjust International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank economic conditions attached to debt relief
  • the cancellation of all poor country debt under a fair, transparent and democratic process for obtaining debt relief

WDM debt campaign successes:

WDM has campaigned on debt for over 20 years. After Jubilee 2000 closed, most other agencies stopped debt campaigning. WDM however, decided more could be achieved, and so we became the most active group working on debt both individually and...

G20 outcome 'a bitter pill for the world’s poor' says banned World Development Movement

The G20 outcome is ‘a bitter pill to swallow’ for the world’s poorest people says the World Development Movement, the anti-poverty group that was banned at last minute from attending the G20 summit. The campaigners are dismayed that the G20 leaders have missed an historic opportunity to launch a global recovery plan that will benefit poor people and tackle the climate crisis.

Julian Oram, head of policy at the World Development Movement said:

“For the world’s poorest people the outcome of the summit is a bitter pill to swallow, as they are being hit hardest by the economic and climate crises. What is needed from the G20 is a radical shake up of the global economy, what we got was world leaders desperately rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking Titanic. The commitments to stay on course to meet the Millennium Development Goals and to provide emergency funding for poor countries are welcome. But what was missing was a global green new deal that puts the interests of poor people and the environment at the heart of international trade and finance."

On the issue of free trade and a push for a deal at the WTO, Julian Oram, remarked:

"The G20 are absolutely right that trade is important to developing countries, but they...

What the World Development Movement wants from the G20

This briefing includes the World Development Movement's critique and recommendations to the G20 leaders on the following areas: trade v protectionism; refuelling the IMF; resurrecting the WTO Doha development round; the climate crisis and the Green New Deal.

This is not just a banking crisis.

The banks collapsed and were bailed out. The global economic system as a whole has broken down, and must be radically revised to ensure that it puts people and the planet first.

A consequence of the capitalist casino system of international finance and consumption is the climate crisis. The economic and climate crises are intrinsically linked and should have been addressed as such by the G20 leaders.

This meeting defined the future of the global economy more than any other in the last sixty years; and as such had profound implications for the world’s poor and efforts to tackle climate change. We want an economic system that is up to the challenges of the 21st century.

Dr Julian Oram, head of policy at the World Development Movement, said:

"The G20 must not prescribe more of the same toxic medicine that led to the current...

UK's 'green' aid to be spent on building new coal power stations in developing world

The World Development Movement slammed a UK government plan to put almost £400 million of 'green' aid designed to assist developing countries low carbon development into a World Bank fund that will subsidise new dirty coal power plants.

The £400 million represents almost half of the UK’s Environmental Transformation Fund – Gordon Brown’s flagship £800 million fund to assist developing countries to deal with the impacts of climate change and develop low carbon economies.

Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

"This UK government money is supposedly specifically designed to help developing countries make the transition to low carbon economies. It's an absolute disgrace that it will actually be used for building new coal power stations. This money will actually contribute significantly to climate change, rather than do anything to prevent it. This is embarrassing for the UK government; but is incredibly worrying news for the world's poorest people who will be hit hardest by climate change. They expect the UK to play a leading role in the fight against climate change both at home and through its funding.

"Every pound of this 'green' aid that will be spent on funding coal power through the World Bank is money...

Out of time - The case for replacing the World Bank and IMF

The world has changed. The International Monetary Fund (IMF, also referred to as the Fund) and World Bank (also referred to as the Bank) have not changed enough. There seems no end in sight to the cycle of debt, and the free market policies imposed on poor countries continue, albeit with new names. Increasingly obvious is the need not just for debt write-offs and changes to Bank and Fund conditionality but for a more fundamental change to the role, remit and functioning of the international financial institutions (IFIs). This report is WDM’s contribution to an ongoing debate over what kind of global institutions we need in order to improve everyone’s quality of life in a highly interconnected world. We argue that, in their current forms, the World Bank and IMF are part of the problem rather than part of the solution and need a radical overhaul.

Denying democracy: How the IMF and World Bank take power from people

This report is concerned with democracy; a complex issue at the best of
times, made even more complex not only by the many local, regional and
national struggles for self-determination across the globe but also by the
development of supra-national decision-making bodies that are many
times removed from individual citizens. It is this latter complexity, and in
particular the actions of the two principal International Financial
Institutions (IFIs) – the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)
– that provides the focus for this report.

While on the one hand it could be argued that during the 20th Century
several key advances were made in terms of citizen participation in
politics (eg, universal suffrage in many countries), on the other it could be
argued that the same period also saw the creation of a range of
international institutions that reduced the ability of individuals to
participate in decisions affecting their daily lives; from the United Nations
and its many sub-sections to the World Bank, IMF and World Trade
Organisation (WTO). It is the latter three that have been the subject of the
fiercest public protest and, although much recent attention has been
focused on the WTO, it is the World Bank and IMF that...

One size for all: A study of IMF and World Bank Poverty Reduction Strategies


In recent years the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank
have adopted new ways of working and new rhetoric on ‘country
ownership’ and ‘participation’. At the start of the 1980s, the two
institutions began to make their loans and aid conditional on
implementing ‘structural adjustment’ policies. The set of structural
adjustment conditions, commonly referred to as the ‘Washington
Consensus’, have been widely criticised both for undermining national
political processes and causing widespread social and economic
damage.

In response to such criticism, the Bank and Fund have adopted new
ways of working and new rhetoric on ‘country ownership’ of policies and
‘participation’ in the development process. The centrepieces of this
supposedly new approach are Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers
(PRSPs); medium-term development plans which poor countries are now
required to produce in order to receive aid, loans and debt relief. PRSPs
are meant to be developed within a country through a participative
process, thereby meaning that the policies in the PRSP are ‘owned’ by
the country.

This briefing investigates how far PRSPs have really departed from
structural adjustment policies pushed by the Bank and Fund, and...

Zambia: Condemned to debt - How the IMF and World Bank have undermined development

Despite the disadvantage of being land-locked, Zambia was once one of
the wealthiest countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This began to change in
the early 1970s. After the oil crisis (increasing the price of imports) and
relative commodity price collapse (reducing the revenue from exports),
Zambia had to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World
Bank for assistance. So began some thirty years of Bank and Fund
intervention in the Zambian economy. In return for loans, Zambia was
required to implement Bank and Fund endorsed economic policies over
three decades. Unfortunately, this period is a sad story of increasing debt,
economic stagnation or collapse, and social crisis.

States of Unrest III : Resistance to IMF and World Bank policies in poor countries

This report, like its predecessors, is about people responding to the imposition of ‘economic restructuring’ by national governments at the behest of the IMF and World Bank. The willingness of ordinary people to take to the streets in large numbers in direct action reflects their anger and outrage at what they see as the breaking of an unwritten ‘social contract’ with their governments to provide basic protection for ordinary citizens at least as much as it does the undoubtedly very real hardship and threat to livelihoods posed by price increases, unemployment and other forms of austerity.

The three reports produced so far by WDM cover the period after ‘Seattle’ (November 1999). But such widespread, popular protest against austerity measures, undertaken as part of a process of ‘global adjustment’, is not new. Through the second half of the 1970s and throughout the 1980s, ordinary people took to the streets in their thousands – sometimes in their tens of thousands – to protest against economic liberalisation and the hardships it created, especially for the poor. What is significant is that, today, there is a greater awareness, not only of the globalisation project itself, but also of the possibility of protest and resistance. It is not too utopian to speak of an ‘anti-...

Structural damage: The causes and consequences of Malawi’s food crisis

There is a common perception that the food crisis in Malawi has been caused by the floods that ruined the planting season in 2001, or by widespread government corruption and mismanagement. These undoubtedly have contributed to the crisis. But there is another cause, which has been even more significant – inappropriate policies of donor agencies, led by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

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