DOES G-20 PROTECT PEOPLE?

DOES G-20 PROTECT PEOPLE?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Does G20 protect people? If so, up to what extent do people matter to the aggrupation of the world’s wealthiest nations? If in case the G20 does protect its own people, does such protection apply to the people of its aid clientele countries?

People not things matter most, says a famous line from the legendary Mao Tsetung of China’s revolutionaries. A populist line, it has been refined today in more technical terms as ‘human development’ index. Aid agencies have seemed to lag behind in capturing the populist fever that has been engulfing the planet over the last seven (7) decades, but they do make adjustments as their very own relevance determines their survival chances.

Below is a reportage from the World Bank about what its president Robert Zoellick had said about the subject.

[Philippines, 16 December 2011]

Source: http://www.devex.com/en/blogs/the-development-newswire/robert-zoellick-g20-should-protect-people-too-not-just-systems

Robert Zoellick: G20 Should Protect People Too, Not Just Systems

Posted by Ivy Mungcal on 02 November 2011 07:59:57 AM

The G-20 summit in France this week should focus on identifying measures to make the world safer for people and not just financial systems, said World Bank President Robert Zoellick, who is expected to attend the Nov. 3 and 4 meeting of officials from the world’s top 20 economies and representatives from leading international organizations.

“They need to recognize that developing countries are now a key source of solutions to the world and then opportunity with the right investments and policies,” Zoellick said at a Nov. 1 teleconference with reporters.

This is one of three calls to actions Zoellick made during the teleconference. He also urged G-20 countries to follow through on the latest European plan to solve the debt crisis in the region and to channel more into job and growth strategies.

On protecting the most vulnerable people in developing countries while maximizing these economies’ potential to lift the global economy, Zoellick identified three areas the G-20 can focus their support on: food security, infrastructure development and policy reform.

“These are not peripheral issues and especially in a fragile and crisis-prone world where–needs of human safety nets as well as financial safety nets,” Zoellick stressed.

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CASH-STRAPPED G20 RAISES FUNDS VIA FUN SHOW

CASH-STRAPPED G20 RAISES FUNDS VIA FUN SHOW

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

It seems cash-strapped wealthy nations are desperate in raising funds to use for development aid or related sweeteners in the group’s dealings with poor nations. Their officials, who have targeted to raise $50 Billions for development aid, just may be running out of fresh ideas precisely on how to raise funds for the largesse.

No wonder that the said power bloc has gone to the extent of sponsoring a show in the Cannes for the same purpose. Just exactly how much can the special event raise seems to be concealed to the public at large. Will this ‘innovative financing’ work out without inviting guffaws and ethical questions hurled from various quarters?

Below is a blog article about the subject.

[Philippines, 26 November 2011]

Source: http://www.devex.com/en/articles/short-on-cash-g20-leaders-try-innovative-financing-for-size

Short on Cash, G20 Leaders Try ‘Innovative Financing’ for Size

By Porter McConnell on 02 November 2011

Last year in Seoul, G-20 leaders made an ambitious commitment to the “Seoul Development Consensus for Shared Growth.” This week in Cannes, the global financial meltdown and Eurozone crisis are likely to dominate.

G-20 leaders estimate that 64 million more people are now living in extreme poverty as a result of the financial crisis. Meanwhile, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has predicted a sharp slowdown of aid levels in the next three years.

It’s no surprise, then, that the French G-20 presidency has prioritized finding “innovative sources of finance” to meet the G-20’s development commitments. Earlier in the year, French President Nicolas Sarkozy asked business magnate Bill Gates to identify the most promising sources of new finance. Gates’s report will be formally presented to G-20 leaders this week, but the substance was shared with G-20 finance and development ministers in September.

Gates is expected to identify a financial transactions tax as one way to make up cash, estimating an additional $50 billion raised for global development if G-20 countries adopted an FTT. Sarkozy has championed the FTT, and the European Commission recently drafted legislation for a European FTT. However, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has taken a strong stand against a European FTT, voicing his disapproval at a September meeting of European finance ministers. Geithner’s intervention may backfire at Cannes once he realizes how much the French love getting lectured by America.

Gates will also propose to G-20 leaders a surcharge on shipping emissions, so-called “bunker” fuels, as another credible and feasible option, estimating an additional $25 billion raised if the charge was adopted by G-20 countries. A measure is on the table at Cannes, but the United States again appears to be playing a blocking role.

In a measure that’s getting less attention, Gates will also call on the G-20 to tap into the long-term power of domestic resources for tackling poverty. Gates will ask G-20 leaders to share the experience of strengthening their tax and budget systems with developing countries, supporting governments to collect in a transparent manner the revenues they need to finance investment in the health and welfare of their citizens.

The bigger question on the table in Cannes will be whether the G-20 will graduate from perpetual crisis mode to taking more proactive steps to promote broad-based growth. G-20 nations are facing increased pressure at home, as more than half of the world’s poor live in G-20 countries, and income inequality has worsened in most G-20 countries since the 1990s. The success of the Cannes summit will depend largely on the willingness of G-20 leaders, including the United States, to accept Gates’s challenge and adapt to a changing world.

Read more:

• Bill Gates to highlight Innovation in Report to G20
• G20 Urged to Tackle Food Crisis in Upcoming Summit
• Pressure on G20 to Continue Aid Programs Build Up as Summit Approaches
• G20 Pressed to Outline Concrete Development Measures at Upcoming Summit
• Bill Gates, Howard G. Buffett Win Anti-Global Hunger Award
• Jasmine Burnley: Oxfam’s 21st Century Aid Visionary
• How Can the G20 Development Working Group Continue to Support Growth? Looking Ahead to 2012
• G20 Urged to Focus on Small Farmers in Food Price Volatility Action Plan
• LDCs Eyeing Alternative Development Financing Sources
• 1,000 Economists Voice Support for Financial Transaction Tax
• EU Parliament Supports Implementing Financial Transaction Tax
• France Looks to Bill Gates for Aid Financing Schemes
• Oxfam International Renews Call for Financial Transaction Tax
• In Davos, Nicolas Sarkozy Calls for Financial Transactions Tax
• Donors Urge Developing Countries to Strengthen Domestic Tax Base

For live coverage of the G20 summit in Cannes, follow @FranceG20, @Devex and @Oxfam on Twitter, and tweet using #tweetG20 and #G20.

Porter McConnell
Porter McConnell is a frequent blogger on development issues, including US foreign aid effectiveness, global health, and the G20. She has worked as an advocate for Oxfam America and the ONE Campaign, and for NGOs in Colombia and Costa Rica. She currently lives in DC.

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G20 WARMS UP ON FOOD SECURITY RESEARCH

G20 WARMS UP ON FOOD SECURITY RESEARCH

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

There is a good news coming from the stakeholders of the G20 nations: the enthusiasm on food security research. This is a most welcome move, and let’s hope for sustained action on funding, launching and disseminating food security research & development results.

This is not to say that food security has been outside the ambit of science discourse among G20 nations. It was on the plate of options in the past, though it played second fiddle to industrial agenda and global trade reforms. Besides, there were the peace & development studies aimed at eradicating terrorism and organized crime in the long run.

With the Millenium Development Goal and post-Kyoto Protocol at the backdrop of worldwide guides to state policies and executory measures, the G20 has finally shown a warmer reception to food security research. Land use patterns across the globe have shown a general deterioration of soil fertility and utility due to monocropping and inorganic inputs, while genetic engineering has offered new opportunities for sustainable grains and livestock production.

Below is a report from the SciDev.net about the latest G20 initiatives on food security research.

[Philippines, 03 October 2011]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/food-security/news/g20-nations-turn-to-agricultural-research-for-food-security.html

G20 nations turn to agricultural research for food security

Yojana Sharma

16 September 2011

The G20 group of major economies has for the first time put international agricultural research on its agenda, in an effort to take a long-term view on the fight for food security.

The group's first meeting on the topic has endorsed the key role of agricultural research not only in preventing global food crises, but also in making an effective contribution to economic growth.

The meeting, taking place in Montpellier, France, this week (12–14 September), is being hosted by the French presidency of the G20 — the group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 major economies. It involved representatives of international development organisations including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN and the World Bank.

"It is the first time the G20 has actively put international agricultural research on its agenda," said Mark Holderness, executive secretary of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), and one of the conference rapporteurs. "That is a big step in itself — the G20 countries have recognised that [agricultural research has] a wider economic relevance."

Although food security shot to the top of the political agenda during the 2008 food riots, "people put in a rapid response … there was no political buy-in to have a long-term view," Holderness told SciDev.Net.

"We have had another price spike and the World Bank is predicting another because food stocks are dwindling and there isn't the capacity in the system — we need to increase food productivity to meet that need."

According to the meeting's draft summary document, research systems in the G20 countries that help increase agricultural productivity can "contribute decisively to the improvement of food security" in the developing world through "improved coherence and coordination, stronger and equal partnerships and better knowledge sharing".

The G20 countries have been described as "a powerhouse of both agricultural innovation and production, with around 70 per cent of scientific publications on agriculture, and around 60 per cent of agricultural exports," said a paper for the conference prepared by Brazil, Canada, France and Japan, together with international organisations including the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the World Bank and the FAO.

"We are not going to have global-scale research for development without appropriate scientific partnerships," said Anne-Marie Izac, CGIAR chief science officer and another rapporteur.

The meeting also recognised the need for foresight studies to improve preparedness.

Izac said that foresight did not mean just being prepared for emergencies, but asking the research questions "which may not be urgent now, but are nonetheless essential for food security in a dynamic, constantly changing environment".

The CGIAR's Independent Science and Partnership Council advises donors on future scenarios, but foresight studies are "not yet embedded in the international agricultural research system", acknowledged Izac.

France's minister for cooperation Henri de Raincourt said the meeting's outcomes would be taken into account at the G20 meeting of finance and development ministers in Washington DC, United States, next week (23–24 September) before the G20 Summit in November in France.

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