ONE Blog

The Guardian—Bono and Geldof laud Queen’s speech commitment to global poverty relief
Bono and Bob Geldof welcomed Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s decision to include in his legislative agenda the enshrinement in law of international development spending, which would put the government’s commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on development from 2013 on to the statute books.”The proposal to make the 0.7% pledge legally binding is not just a great announcement, it is transformative of real lives, by a government that has led the world in keeping its promises to the world’s poorest people,” Bono said. “The next step is making sure this becomes law as soon as possible, in 2010.”

Voice of America—African Leaders Left Disappointed at End of UN Food Summit
A three-day United Nations food summit ended in Rome Wednesday without securing substantial new funds to combat world hunger, Voice of America News writes. Some African ministers left the summit saying world leaders are not doing enough to reduce soaring hunger levels on the continent.

Reuters—World leaders’ low turnout hits UN food summit
On a similar note about the U.N. food summit, Reuters writes that an absence of many world leaders undermined the summit from the start, and its final declaration showed little progress was made in the fight against hunger. U.N. officials put on a brave face throughout the November 16-18 Rome meeting, saying it had won broad support for the need to focus on longer-term agricultural development — rather than emergency aid — to help poor countries feed themselves. But the no-show by heavyweights from most of the world’s biggest economies lowered the summit’s profile, and did not help efforts to push malnutrition and food shortages to the top of the political agenda.

Reuters—Obama’s Democrats call for trade policy overhaul
A group of Democratic lawmakers urged President Obama on Wednesday to abandon the Doha round of global trade talks and start over with an agenda to protect labor rights and environmental standards. “We believe the Doha round should be declared dead,” Rep, Michael Michaud (D-ME), the chairman of a working group of U.S. lawmakers on trade issues, said at a news conference. The group is deeply skeptical of the free trade agenda that has dominated U.S. policy in recent years. Members say they are still waiting for Obama to keep campaign promises to reform U.S. trade policy to be more protective of American workers.

AllAfrica.com—Climate Change and the Population ‘Bomb’: A Debate Not to Shy Away From
The United Nations Population Fund released its “State of the World Population 2009″ report on Wednesday. It chose to take up a politically delicate topic, the relationship between climate change, population stabilization and the importance of gender. The fundamental question it seeks to address is: how much of a threat is the growth in population to the world and how much of this increase will lead to a spike in greenhouse gas emissions? As the report demonstrates, answers are not straightforward.

AFP—Eat local rice? Senegalese say no thanks
Similar to other poor but agriculturally-focused countries, the Senegalese government had what seemed a reasonable idea after last year’s food crisis: have the country grow and eat its own rice instead of sticking with the practice of importing tons from Asia. It was part of a larger plan to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. But the Senegalese, who serve rice with so many meals, said no thanks. Why? That’s where it gets sticky, writes the AFP. Explanations range from taste to social standing to the legacy of colonialism. Whatever the reason, the government is now figuring out how to promote locally grown rice and hopes to import none of the staple by 2012.

BBC: Poor women ‘bear climate burden’
The United Nations Population Fund warns that women in developing countries will be the most vulnerable to climate change due to the fact that they do most of the agricultural work and are therefore are affected by weather-related natural disasters impacting on food, energy and water. The report also suggested family planning, reproductive healthcare and “gender relations” could influence how the world adapts to rising seas, worsening storms and severe droughts.

Reuters Africa: Africa agrees on secret climate damages demand
Reuters reports that African leaders have agreed on how much cash to demand from the rich world to compensate for the impact of climate change, but kept the figure secret ahead of next month’s Copenhagen talks. Exhaustive preparatory talks since 2007 have failed to solve splits between rich and poor countries or find extra funds to help developing nations to pay for expensive technology to ensure they do not over pollute as their economies grow. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Africa wanted a treaty to be agreed in Copenhagen but could accept a “binding political agreement” as a steppingstone to a treaty being agreed later.

Financial Times: The many roads to food security
The Financial Times argues that despite the UN food summit drawing to a halt “amid a plethora of platitudes about feeding the poor,” translating these discussions into action is what will prove difficult – not least because agriculture, with its concentrated groups of farmers and agribusinesses and diffuse groups of consumers, has proved “susceptible to producer group lobbying.” Argues the Times, “The food-security battle isn’t a question of one big heave: it is fought on hundreds of fronts. Most victories will be slow and technocratic rather than quick and spectacular, but will be all the more enduring for it.”

Reuters India: International health alliance says pushes vaccine costs down
A U.N.-backed health alliance reported Wednesday that the price of a vaccine that helps infants fend off a variety of deadly diseases has been forced down, thanks to a coordinated buying policy to meet the growing demand from developing countries. The five-in-one vaccine is given routinely to children in developed nations but price has kept them out of the reach of some poorer nations. However, higher demand has pushed purchasing costs down.”This price drop is no accident, but…the result of a strategy to leverage the purchasing power of hundreds of millions of people,” UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Saad Houry said in statement.