2009 Pittsburgh G20
All eyes are focused on New York right now, but in just a few days Pittsburgh will grab the global stage when heads of state from the world’s biggest economies show up for the G20 Summit. As most of you know, in addition to a variety of requests for follow-up from the G20 London Summit and the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, ONE is also calling for the G20 to agree to host an upcoming summit in Africa.
But why?
The obvious answer is that the African continent is made up of 53 states and nearly 1 billion people, so of course any discussion of the global economic recovery should be hosted in Africa at some point. Less obvious to many is the fact that when it comes to the economic crisis and other pressing global problems (like climate change and food security), Africa is part of the solution.
Take the economy. Until the financial crisis, 18 non-oil exporting African economies were growing individually at annual rate of 5.5% or more, the most sustained economic growth in decades. Increasing investment, trade and economic diversification were all part of this trend. This growth not only presented African countries with new opportunities to create jobs, increase exports and boost revenues, it also offered the world a new destination for investment and business. The same is true with the global economic recovery. Helping Africa get back on its feet after the financial crisis will reap benefits for the rest of the world. Research commissioned by ONE earlier this year showed that a $50 billion stimulus for long-term growth in sub-Saharan Africa would generate $250 billion of increased output and generate a 40% return for the investors in ten years time.
Climate and agriculture are other areas where Africa has a lot to offer. Preserving the continent’s vast natural resources, for example, could help offset global emissions. The forests of the Congo basin span 700,000 square miles, making it one of the world’s biggest carbon sinks. Africa’s potential for solar, geothermal and hydro-power provides new opportunities for private sector investments. And with greater investment in agriculture, Africa could one day serve as a global breadbasket and help to prevent the food shortages the world witnessed in 2008. Nearly two-thirds of Africa’s people are employed in agriculture, and some estimate that the continent is home to 800 million hectares of unused, cultivable land.
Much needs to be done to truly tap into Africa’s potential in a way that brings benefits to the rest of the global community- barriers to trade need to be removed, carbon markets need to be incentivized to invest in Africa and infrastructure needs to be strengthened so that the continent can attract more investment. But one easy way that the G20 can get the ball rolling is by announcing that it will host an upcoming summit on the continent. Doing so will signal that the G20 is sincere about bringing Africa to the table as these important global decisions are made and will force the rest of the world to take a closer look at what Africa has to offer.
Stay tuned here for more details on ONE’s recommendations around agriculture and climate change for the G20 in Pittsburgh.
-Nora Coghlan
I’m at the airport waiting for my flight to Pittsburgh for this year’s second G20 summit and I finally just got to see the clip of ONE’s President and CEO David Lane on MSNBC this morning.
You can check it out too.
David talks about our push to get a G20 meeting in Africa in the near future as well as other relevant topics.
“We’re used to going to these gatherings, we and many other activists going to these gatherings with a case for ‘Don’t forget the poor.” It’s often times a social justice argument. I think what we’re trying to say now is very much in tune with what President Obama and the G20 are saying, it’s that it’s not about charity it really is about self interest. I think the stated, highest goal of this G20 meeting is for accelerated recovery that’s sustainable and includes everyone.
Our point about Africa is that it actually continent of 900 million consumers and producers as well. And in fact most Americans probably don’t know this because they often times see stories of hardship — before this recession 18 African, non-oil producing African countries were growing by 5.5% by year and that had been building. So they are part of the global economy and we need to be sure that when the rich nations gather at the G20 or the G8 that they’re finding ways to address that.”
The show also featured one of the posters ONE has placed all over Pittsburgh. I’ll check in again after I land and let you know how they look from the ground.
-Virginia Simmons
The G20 Summit in Pittsburgh is fast approaching and ONE members are preparing a very special message for the occasion, calling on G20 leaders to hold one of their upcoming summits in Africa. 34,000 ONE members have already signed the petition asking the G20 to Go To Africa and see Africa’s potential to be a driving economic force of the 21st century for themselves.
We’ve just partnered with Moving the Lives of Kids Community Mural Project in Pittsburgh, an amazing community group that is painting a G20 message that will include our petition. It’s going to be an eye-grabbing, powerful presentation right in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, so we can be sure that the visiting dignitaries get the message. Stay tuned for more on the campaign, the mural, and the G20 summit.
-Aaron Banks
In anticipation of next week’s G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, ONE has taken to the streets to make sure all visiting world leaders and visitors will take notice of our message that Africa is part of the global economic recovery.
We’ve been blanketing storefronts, restaurants, bookstores and everywhere in between with posters that read “ONE World. ONE Recovery. Africa is Part of the Solution.” and featuring Morgana Wingard’s great design work. Special thanks to Nakturnal for the fantastic photos!
Meanwhile, in coffee shops all over the Pittsburgh area, we’ve been dropping of coffee sleeves with the same message on them. Take a look:
All of this is part of our larger effort to ask the G20 to hold the next Summit in Africa. Please lend your voice to this campaign here, and be sure to share it with your friends and family.
We’ll have more updates about the run-up to the G20 soon!
-Chris Scott
The 2009 Pittsburgh Summit, also known as the G-20, will continue its focus on resolving the global economic crisis when it meets next Thursday and Friday, September 24 and 25. Recent financial indicators have led many economists and U.S. policymakers, including President Obama, to become increasingly optimistic about the global financial outlook. While the situation may be improving, there is still work to be done.
Given that the financial crisis – which started in the U.S. – has disproportionately affected poor and developing countries, InterAction believes developing nations’ economic concerns should be well-represented at the G-20. As the largest alliance of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian NGOs, we have been organizing the NGO community to advocate the G-20 for pro-poor policy reforms. Our strategy has been two-fold:
First, several NGOs came together to write policy briefs that outline two key concerns (Climate Change and Economic Crisis) and recommendations for addressing them. In August, these briefs were hand-delivered and discussed with the U.S.’s lead representative to the G-20 Summit.
Second, we have established an NGO Hub to provide workspace for some of the many organizations that will be present in Pittsburgh next week. While only one representative per NGO has been promised access to the Summit, it’s important that they are on hand to amplify key messages to policymakers and the media. Having our voices heard in the media is key to ensuring that the economic concerns of the developing world are not forgotten amidst discussions about how to stabilize the global economy.
The InterAction alliance and several partner organizations will be on-the-ground and plan to be a strong, vocal presence. Visit http://www.interaction.org/pittsburgh-g20-summit for more details.
-Sam Worthington, InterAction President and CEO
It’s hard to keep track of our calendars here at ONE these days, as the next two weeks are jam-packed with important development events. Over the coming days, folks at ONE will be attending the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh (September 24-25), the UN General Assembly (the 64th session opened yesterday), a UN Summit on Climate Change (September 22), the Clinton Global Initiative (September 22-25) and a special seminar organized by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in New York.
It’s an important two weeks for the development community, as critical issues—innovative financing for global health, climate change funding, women’s empowerment, global economic recovery—will all be put on the table. Make sure to stay tuned to ONE’s blog, as we’ll provide updates on our travels throughout the coming weeks.
-Kara Arsenault
Senator Bill Frist, chairman of Save the Children’s Survive to 5 campaign, wrote this great op-ed in anticipation of next week’s G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA. The op-ed is a fantastic look at child mortality in the city of Pittsburgh and around the world.
We’ll have more on the G20 Summit soon, including some on the ground reports from Pittsburgh. Excerpts from Senator Frist’s op-ed below, full piece here.
When world leaders chart a course toward a more prosperous future at next week’s G-20 summit, Pittsburgh can inspire in more ways than one.
The city built on steel has renewed its shine as a center for research and technology and become a model for economic comeback. When this recession recedes, Pittsburgh is poised to jump far ahead of cities where “rust belt” still rings true.
But progress is not measured solely in economic terms. Presidents and prime ministers should note a different kind of progress that Pittsburgh pursued and achieved in the years it was still building its first boom. This kind of progress has yet to reach many parts of the planet, but, in the interests of all, must.
Sustainable recovery and long-term economic growth depend on improving the well-being of the world’s most vulnerable people and ensuring they, too, participate in recovery. To that end, improving the health of children and mothers is fundamental.
G-20 leaders also have a key opportunity to promote policies offering a healthy start to the world’s most vulnerable children. In L’Aquila, the eight leading industrialized nations took an important step in this direction. That summit’s official declaration recognized the importance of improving maternal, child and newborn health and how (90 years after Pittsburgh was told so) effective measures to prevent child deaths are proven and available now.
But world leaders passed on committing resources or introducing a mechanism to spur concrete action to help poor countries. Now it’s time they tell developing countries: If you produce a viable plan to reduce child deaths, we will not allow you to fail for lack of resources.
-Chris Scott
