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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 These institutions reinforce the elitist, outdated power relations between rich and poor countries and their policy prescriptions over the past twenty years have proved disastrous for...

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to send a cabinet minister to the United Nations summit on the economic crisis (1), but personally attending the 'outdated and elitist' G8 meeting in July.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

The World Development Movement today expressed its huge disappointment that the European Union has proceeded with signing a trade deal with Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.

Vicky Cann, trade policy officer says: “Trade deals like this one between Europe and Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland open African markets up to European multinational companies before they are fully able to compete on equal terms. Such unfair deals threaten local jobs and labour standards. They also disrupt the regional trade in southern Africa, something to which the European Commission seems oblivious”.

South Africa, Angola and Namibia have all chosen not to sign this deal, as it currently stands, in a negotiation process that has been wracked with controversy. Namibia’s trade and industry minister Hage Geingob has said, "We might be small, but we are still a sovereign state. You cannot smoke cigars in boardrooms in Brussels and bulldoze us."

In a 2008 report which looked at the existing Europe-South Africa free trade deal signed in 1999, the World Development Movement documented the resulting reductions in tariffs on EU products which had led to an increase in imports from the EU and a negative impact on South Africa’s current account balance. The food processing,...

The World Development Movement is delighted to announce the appointment of Deborah Doane as its new director, who started 1 June at the UK’s leading grassroots, anti-poverty campaigning organisation. The World Development Movement looks forward to an exciting new era led by Deborah's dynamism and a wealth of experience from over 15 years working on social and environmental issues.

Deborah Doane, said:

"The root causes of the current global economic and the climate crises are the issues that the World Development Movement works on. And by working at the cutting edge, we now have the greatest opportunity to tackle the root causes of global poverty and injustice – and realise a better future for the lives of poor people around the world.

“The World Development Movement has been one of the most effective organisations, working at the forefront of anti-poverty campaigning for nearly forty years, in partnership with campaigners from around the world. I’m delighted to be able to take the organisation forward and build on the excellent work of my predecessor, Benedict Southworth, who is moving on after nearly 5 years as director to become the primary carer of his children, undertake a Masters degree and consultancy work."

Deborah was...

In response to the current crisis of confidence in our parliamentary system, the World Development Movement has joined with artists, activists and politicians in signing an open letter published in the Observer, calling for a referendum on proportional representation on the same day as the next general election.

Our society faces real problems; including mass unemployment, growing poverty and the threat of climate chaos. These challenges require effective government working on behalf of the popular will. A new electoral system that makes everyone's vote count could be crucial to maintaining public faith and engagement in our political system.

WDM believes a referendum on this issue could help restore trust between voters and Parliament that has been badly damaged by the MP expenses scandal. Just as radical action is needed to fix a broken economic system, we believe that the time has come for a debate by the British public on whether democratic reform to our political system is needed to address the unprecedented challenges faced by our society.

For more information, please call Kate Blagojevic on 020 7820 4900

Kate Blagojevic
...

The World Development Movement is calling on the EU to stop an unfair trade deal with Central America. The campaigners are concerned that the EU is rushing through negotiations in secret to seal a trade deal that could increase poverty and inequality in an already poor region.

Vicky Cann, trade policy officer at the World Development Movement said:

"Central American governments and campaigners are voicing serious concerns over this deal because of the fear that it could increase poverty in the region. But it seems that the EU is insistent that it is completed and is really piling on the pressure to get a conclusion this summer. It is outrageous that the details of these negotiations are secret, as it denies democratic scrutiny and accountability to parliaments and citizens.

"There is a lot of evidence that free trade deals like this one could result in significant job losses amongst producers of manufactured goods; reduced government income from trade taxes to invest in public services, like health and education; reduced access to cheap medicines for the poorest people; reduced access to financial services for low income communities and small businesses. It is also likely that women will be disproportionately negatively affected."

The...

The campaigning community are mourning the loss of Murray Benham who was WDM’s Head of Campaigns and Networks until April 2009, and passed away suddenly and tragically last week from a massive stroke. 

Murray was a classic campaigner: outspoken, fearless, brave, and bright. He was in the great and proud tradition of working class men whose inherent sense of injustice leads them to dedicate their lives to the collective not the individual. He believed strongly that socialism was the best model to bring about equality, and was more than happy to bend your ear about this for hours over a pint. On top of being an enormously passionate advocate for social justice, Murray had also worked extensively in Media & Communications in his working life. 

Having joined WDM in 2005 on a short term contract, he quickly found his ideals were well matched to our work and ended up staying for 4 years. During this time he oversaw the adaptation of our campaigns due to changes in media, social organising, and world leaders He also diversified the way WDM communicates with our supporters and the wider public by introducing the idea of cutting back on ‘development / policy’ speak, and using 10 words to describe something rather than our usual...

The World Development Movement welcomed Ed Miliband’s announcement that there is no place for unabated coal in our energy future at a time of climate crisis. However, the campaign group warned that the proposal leaves a giant loop hole that could still lead to disastrous levels of emissions before 2025. The proposed new plant at Kingsnorth in Kent could alone emit as much as the whole of Ghana each year.

“I’m delighted that the Minister has finally recognised there is no place for unabated coal at this time of climate crisis.” said Benedict Southworth, WDM’s Director.

But the Government is committing billions of pounds of taxpayers money on a technology [CCS] that remains untested on a large scale and may never be economically viable. It is also yet to be proven that climate damaging carbon dioxide emissions can be stored safely underground.”

“It is critical that the UK government provides a guarantee that if the gamble fails we won’t be left with massively polluting plants.”

Power companies must now recognise that new coal fired power stations cannot go ahead without being full CCS from the start, otherwise there will be no guarantee they will be cost effective by 2025.

ENDS

To organise an interview or for more information, please contact...

Alistair Darling's budget reveals the government's 'contradictory' green credentials, according to the World Development Movement.

Julian Oram, head of policy at the World Development Movement said: "The government is allocating £525 million for offshore wind but is providing tax cuts to big business to extract 2 billion barrels of' oil and gas. Tackling climate change requires keeping fossil fuels in the ground, not extracting every drop we can. This reveals the contradictory nature of the government's green credentials.

"Darling has announced money for two to four demonstration projects in coal power carbon capture and storage. Relying on this technology is a big gamble. By the time we know if it works, millions of pounds will have been squandered and it may be too late to prevent dangerous climate change.

"These demonstration projects cannot be tagged-on to dirty coal power stations where most of the emissions will continue to warm the world for generations to come. And carbon capture and storage will be pointless if it is used to extract more oil from the North Sea."

"A credible green budget required the Chancellor to commit at least two per cent of national GDP to invest in renewable energy generation, infrastructure, warm homes,...

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...

Minutes ago, the World Development Movement learnt that its accreditation, as part of the Put People First alliance, to enter the G20 summit has been revoked. The reason is unclear but a member of the accreditation team told the World Development Movement that the decision came after the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had received a note from 'Number 10' to decline the organisation's director, Benedict Southworth's accreditation.

Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

"I am outraged that we have apparently been banned at last minute from attending the G20 summit. We hope it's not what it appears to be – an attempt to stage manage events and prevent voices of dissent and disagreement from being heard.

"The only other government in the world that has banned the World Development Movement from attending a global summit is the Singapore government which has a track record of stifling voices of opposition. A ban that was subsequently overturned after protests from around the world.

"On Saturday, I was part of the Put People First delegation that met with Ed Miliband, Gareth Thomas and Steven Simms at 'Number 11'. On behalf of my members and the people who we work with around the world, I will be demanding to...

A new movement was born on 28 March 2009, with the World Development Movement at its heart, as over 35,000 people marched through London calling for a fundamental change in the world economy to deliver decent jobs and public services for all, an end to global poverty, and a green economy.

Read the Put People First policy demands

At a rally in Hyde Park, they were addressed by Global Call to Action against Poverty co-chair Kumi Naidoo, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, actor and activist Tony Robinson, environmentalist Tony Juniper and trade campaigner Mary Lou Malig among others. They heard international calls for action to deliver tax justice, trade justice, a Green New Deal in both rich and poor countries, and for democratically accountable governments, banks and international financial institutions to deliver it.

Members of Put People First - an unprecedented alliance of more than 150 unions, development, faith and environment groups,] - are united in calling on the G20 leaders to recognise that only just, fair and sustainable policies can lead the world out of recession,...

Today, the World Development Movement warns that Gordon Brown's proposals at the G20 to salvage the global economy could be wrecked by contradictions between his tough talk on re-regulating the banking sector and the UK’s continued push for banking liberalisation in developing countries through European free trade deals.

The new report, 'Taking the credit’, reveals the extent of the negative consequences of the financial services liberalisation pushed on developing countries through EU free trade deals. These deals would lift restrictions on how multinational banks, like Barclays, HSBC, Santander operate in developing countries. The World Development Movement’s evidence shows such deals would mean that poor people and small businesses lose out on access to credit and other banking services.

Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

"On the one hand, Gordon Brown has developed a mantra of tough talk on the re-regulation of banks. On the other, together with other European leaders, he is aggressively pushing free trade deals which demand that developing countries follow a deregulated and liberalised banking model. That model has clearly and spectacularly failed here and has also failed poor people in the developing...

In response to today’s ‘low carbon summit’ launched by Gordon Brown, Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

“It’s welcome that Gordon Brown is saying that he plans to tackle the economic and climate crisis together through a green new deal, but he must be very careful not to co-opt green language, while continuing to deliver black, high carbon projects. He cannot say our industrial landscape will be ‘transformed’ by building new coal power stations and relying on carbon capture technology that doesn’t exist to green them. We need action today, not green gestures for tomorrow.

“The real danger is that today’s summit will simply dress up ‘business as usual’ with promises of future green ideals, when Brown should be showing real international leadership through a radical and real move to a low carbon economy through a radical and real green new deal, for example by massive investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency to create thousands of new green collar jobs and providing secure places for people to invest their savings and pensions.”

ENDS

For more information, please call:

Kate Blagojevic
Press officer, World Development Movement
0207 820 4900/4913, 07711 875 345, Email:...

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...

Today, UK based anti poverty campaigners, the World Development Movement revealed that over 30 organisations from the developing world have written to Ed Miliband to demand that he bans new coal power, and scraps the controversial plan for a new coal power station at Kingsnorth in Kent.

Murray Benham, head of campaigns at the World Development Movement said:

“Those on the receiving end of the UK’s carbon emissions are appalled at the prospect of new coal power stations being built in the UK. Any international credibility the UK has for putting climate change targets into law will be shot to pieces by another decision in favour of a carbon emitting monster. The World Development Movement has calculated that a new power station at Kingsnorth would by itself create 30,000 climate refugees across the world. Campaigners from the developing world are clear that this is unjust, and Ed Miliband cannot allow it to happen.”

Ricardo Navarro, campaigner from El Salvador said:

“The UK building coal power stations is like eating a slap-up meal and handing the bill to the world’s poor.”

The letter to Ed Miliband, UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has been signed by 34 influential organisations based in the...

A huge new platform of unions, development agencies, faith and environmental groups plans to tell world leaders attending the G20 summit in April that only just, fair and sustainable policies can lead the world out of recession.

The alliance, which includes the TUC, Oxfam, ActionAid, Friends of the Earth and CAFOD, is calling on people to join a major demonstration for jobs, justice and climate in London on Saturday 28 March, five days before the summit.

Under the banner "Put People First – March for Jobs, Justice and Climate", the groups will demand decent jobs and public services for all, an end to global poverty and inequality, and a green economy.

The march will assemble on the Embankment en route to Hyde Park for a rally to be addressed by speakers and celebrities from the UK and around the world.

The organisations backing "Put People First" say: "Recession must not be an excuse for putting off action for global justice or to stop climate chaos. The only sustainable way to rebuild the global economy is to create a fair distribution of wealth that provides decent jobs and public services for all, ends global inequality and builds a low carbon future."

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
"People are angry at the...

New government figures released today revealing that UK carbon emissions are significantly down are ‘spin, aided by creative accounting’ say the World Development Movement.

The government has announced that UK carbon emissions have fallen by 13 per cent since 1990. But this figure has been manipulated to include carbon credits, and discounts emissions from aviation. A proper analysis of the figures by the World Development Movement reveals that UK carbon emissions have fallen by just 5 per cent since 1990.

Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

“Today’s figures have been manipulated to include supposed reductions that have taken place outside the UK, not by the UK. If the UK government is genuinely committed to tackling climate change, this kind of Enron-esque accountancy cannot continue. The government must stop cooking the books and cut carbon emissions in the UK, as well as encouraging cuts around the world, if they are not to be known as the biggest ‘greenwashers’ of all.”

A fall in emissions since 2006 due to less coal being burnt in power stations only cancels out earlier increases. To meet the UK’s climate...

The government has employed the most dangerous greenwash of our times today by dubbing the announcement of the third runway, 'green Heathrow'.

Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

"We’re incredibly angry about this disastrous decision. I'm in my 40s but I'll probably be dead by the time the aviation industry has to take responsibility for its carbon emissions.

"Dubbing this climate killing project ‘the green Heathrow’ is the most dangerous greenwash of our times. It’s like calling a new motorway ‘green’ because it has a cycle path. The aviation industry has just been given free rein to pollute while other sectors of industry and the British public will be forced to cut emissions. This new runway instantly undermines all the UK’s hard won commitments on climate change; it makes a mockery of the new UK climate law; and embarrasses us on the world stage. This is an insult to people in developing countries and a slap in the face for global progress for an international deal on climate change.

"The government’s claim that increases in emissions from aviation will be dealt through carbon trading in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme is a dangerous red herring. There are so many loopholes in the scheme, it is...

Flights from the new third runway at Heathrow will produce the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as Kenya every year according to figures from the World Development Movement.

Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

“The government says it is serious about tackling climate change; but in the same breath, they give the thumbs up to a new runway at Heathrow. This is a real let down and shows the government up to be all mouth and no trousers when it comes to climate change. The government is relinquishing any claim to credibility or leadership on action against climate change. They talk tough, but aren't delivering. The government is blaming the economic crisis for their decision but they are forgetting that there is a climate crisis that needs urgent action.

“The number of flights leaving Heathrow will nearly double as a result of this expansion, creating a huge increase in climate damaging emissions. The fact that flights from the new runway will emit the same annual amount of carbon as Kenya is appalling, as the country has a population of nearly 40 million people. The injustice is that most people in the developing world have a tiny carbon footprint, but they will be hit worst by climate change.

“The...

This morning, (10 Jan) the average person in Britain will have already produced more carbon in 2009 than a person from the poorest countries emits in a whole year warns the World Development Movement [1].

Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

"It is shocking that by today the average Briton will have already produced more carbon this year than someone in a poor country will in the whole of 2009. The world’s poorest people contribute little to climate change but will suffer most from its consequences."

Today also marks, the minister in charge of energy and climate change, Ed Miliband's 100th day in post. The World Development Movement challenged him to use his first 100 days to take the lead on transforming the way the UK produces its energy and responds to the threat of global warming. We outlined a five point program asking the Minister to:[2]

  • Refuse E.ON’s application for a new coal power station at Kingsnorth in Kent.
  • Increase the carbon reduction target in the climate bill to 80 per cent, including emissions from aviation
  • Ensure that the carbon emissions reductions happen in the UK, rather than relying on carbon trading
  • Set...

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