American Abroad

Climate change claims 300,000 lives a year

Up to 300,000 lives are lost to climate change per year with this figure likely to reach half a million by 2030, according to the first study assessing the human cost of climate change.
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, president of the Global Humanitarian Forum think tank which released the report says: “Climate change is happening today, it is not a distant threat and not simply an environmental problem. It is having a severe impact on millions of people around the globe.”
Up to 99 per cent of deaths are borne by developing countries, which are hit hardest by environmental degradation and weather-related disasters. The areas most affected are dry land belt states from the Sahara to the Middle East, Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, South and South East Asia, and small island states on the Pacific.
“The world’s poorest groups are the ones who are least resilient and able to respond to the crisis,” says Annan.
According to Barbara Stocking, the chief executive of Oxfam, women and children will be most affected by the impact of global warming. Women make up 70 per cent of the world’s agricultural workers and children are the most vulnerable group.
“The impact on women will be very high because this is going to hit agricultural production very badly indeed. Women are also the water carriers of the world, and in many places water is farther away because of droughts.”
The total economic cost of climate change is $125bn (£78bn), and this figure is projected to rise to $340bn (£211bn) in 20 years if the worst effects are not addressed.
Currently 325 million people are affected by global warming. This number is expected to more than double by 2030, making it the single worst humanitarian threat facing the world.
People in developing countries will be forced to move en masse because of water depletion, says the former UN Secretary General, and many will look to move to the UK and Europe.
The report comes as diplomats from 192 countries plan to meet in Bonn next week to reach an agreement on decreasing greenhouse gas emissions for the Copenhagen summit in December.
“We have to move forward to a fair and safe global deal in Copenhagen; safe in decreasing world temperature under two degrees centigrade, and fair by taking into account the needs of poor people, ” says Stocking.

Week three of witch-hunt over MPs expenses

Until now I have avoided sharing my own views about the MPs expense scandal so as not to add to the din of voices saturating the media. But as the witch-hunt nears week three, I can’t help but point out that the incessant indignation and frantic finger-pointing holds more than a hint of hypocrisy.

I fully support holding MPs to account. But is that really what we are doing? So far, here and there we have finagled a few resignations and a few more apologies. But there is no doubt that many of these ‘casualties’ will find their way back into similar positions once the dust settles. And out of the blue a political reshuffle will mysteriously happen while the press is distracted by Obama’s dog having puppies, or the appearance of a Britain’s Got Talent winner even less photogenic than Susan Boyle.

But in the meantime, as the Telegraph reaps in the cash feeding us new fuel for the fire drip by drip every day, something must be done, we exclaim. And the politicians start racking their brains for a fall guy.

The party leaders aren’t at fault of course. After all, it would be ludicrous to rob David Cameron of his shot at PM when he’s so very close. And the current PM isn’t really to blame for anything, as he can tell you personally on YouTube. I mean, it’s obvious who’s really responsible isn’t it? None other than the orchestrator of the whole expenses structure, the instigator of a culture dripping with sleaze, and the man who practically forced MP’s hands to write off the portico, helipad, and moat.

It was the speaker, in the House of Commons, with a pen!

Michael Martin is the first House of Commons Speaker in three centuries to be forced out of office.

David Winnick, the veteran Labour MP for Walsall North, told Mr Martin as he was humiliated by heckling from MPs: “Your early retirement, sir, would help the reputation of the House.”

A Tory frontbencher said: “[Martin] is like an old Lancaster bomber, flying on with bits falling off all over the place.”

Undoubtedly, the elderly Scot could not walk away from the scene squeakily clean, but his role as a scapegoat for all political parties involved is quite frankly disgusting. Did no one think it should have been the moat-owners, the house flippers, or the fertilizer fiends that were shouted down from the House until their faces turned bright red with embarrassment? The proverbial glass house springs to mind.

MP’s expenses should be transparent, and most certainly put under the microscope of public scrutiny. But perhaps our finger-pointing should span a bit further.

To nationalize or not to nationalize…

To his critics he is on a destructive rampage. But to supporters, every move is a step closer to the vision promised by his election: the realization of socialism in the twenty-first century.

Today, President Hugo Chavez ‘temporarily’ seized a pasta factory owned by U.S. food giant Cargill Inc, which officials say was not producing enough of a particular kind of pasta sold at government subsidized prices.

The government intends to run the company for 90 days, but a permanent takeover has not been ruled out.

This is only the latest step in a recent flood of nationalizations in Venezuela, which have included the seizure of a Cargill rice mill, and the takeover of numerous oil service companies that work closely with the state oil giant PDVSA. Chavez also threatened to nationalize Polar, Venezuela’s largest private employer, brewer and food processor.

Despite soaring inflation (the highest in Latin America) Chavez maintains popular support, with a 60 per cent approval rate in the polls.

Since he won the referendum in February, many believe that Chavez has used the victory as a mandate to wrench Venezuela further away from the grip of western capitalism. And the spiraling of oil prices has certainly given him more impetus to do it.

According to Chavez, the takeover of the oil firms had as much to do with Venezuela asserting its independence as it did with practicality. The oil service companies charged too much, failing to take into account the drop in oil prices gnawing away at PDVSA’s profits.

But the real question underlying such bold actions is whether it is possible to cut out private companies and scare away foreign investment without a severe blow to Venezuela’s economy.

Can Venezuela, especially now when its oil life line is steadily waning, hope to go it alone without severe repercussions for its feuding citizenry?

Only one thing is certain: Hugo Chavez will continue to hold the reigns of power for the foreseeable future. Let’s hope he doesn’t go down with the ship. Or rather, the ship doesn’t go down with him.

The worst news story ever

The Independent has recently ranked a local news story in Kent to be the worst. Oly Duff, the home news desk editor made the judgement call, and it must be said that going by the first sentence of the pun-ridden piece his decision is more than justified.

“A MUM of three is dis-custard after a hunt for the dessert sauce in the town proved fruitless.”

The story tracks a young baker on a desperate and soul-searching journey to find a tin of custard unavailable in local supermarkets. The harrowingly tragic ending results in her difficult decision to buy custard sachets.

Now, there is little wonder why journalism, local journalism in particular, is on its last legs. I personally feel that my own life experiences are far more intriguing. Why not catalogue my trip from London Bridge to New Cross Gate, and the action-packed 10 minute ordeal I faced today when I attempted to buy a pasty from the shop while simultaneously juggling a ringing mobile and trying to catch the train leaving in 2 minutes. With pasty and phone in one hand, wallet in the other, and oyster card in my teeth I bolted down the platform, pushing an elderly man onto the tracks, and flinging a small child from his perch next to the train door onto the crutches of a woman with a broken leg.

But in the end, I triumphed! Jumping onto the train only seconds before it sped away. Exhausted I collapsed on the seat and celebrated my great feat by eating the glorious half-crushed and oozing tomato, cheese, and basil pasty.

Of course I may have sensationalized the story ever so slightly. But it still beats custard.

Bashir welcomes foreign aid agencies, but refuses to back down on his decision

Sudan president Al Bashir has announced that he will “not close the door” to foreign aid organizations that want to help alleviate the worst of the escalating crisis in Darfur.

But the closure of Sudanese NGOs in March, including the Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO), the Amel Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, and the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights and Environmental Development (KCHRED) remains intact. (See ‘Sudanese NGOs demand justice’ for background)

And despite the remarks welcoming foreign aid agencies, Bashir has refused to allow the 13 international NGOs previously expelled from Sudan to come back.

“For the expelled 13 NGOs, this is history. It’s finished. But this decision … does not close the door for any new NGOs — American, British, French … with new names, with new logos,” Hassabo Mohamed Abd el-Rahman, the head of Sudan’s state Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) told Reuters.

The government crackdown against the NGOs came shortly after an International Criminal Court (ICC) ruling that called for the arrest of president Bashir on 4 March. The president accused aid groups of providing the ICC with information against him.

Bashir has claimed that local NGOs have been filling the aid gap, though he made no mention of the Sudanese NGOs closed down by the government, among them the largest Sudanese aid agency working in Darfur.

Up to 4.7 million Darfuris are reliant on humanitarian aid. Before foreign aid agencies were thrown out of Sudan, the United Nations and aid groups were operating the world’s largest humanitarian aid project in Darfur.

“Clearly there were gaps left when the NGOs were expelled… we have been trying to fill those most critical life-saving gaps but we know we’ve not been able to do that on a full basis,” U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes told reporters.

“Our position from the beginning is that the best way out of this problem is to reverse the decision and let back in the NGOs that were expelled… if there are ways in which gradually over time some, or all, of them can be allowed back in to work that’s something I’d very much welcome,” he added.

Holmes has said he will spend the next few days discussing this position with the government during his visit to Sudan.