In an interview asking for his reaction to the 2007 German G8 meeting, Bono said the pledges made were “deliberately misleading,” but exactly what promises were made during the meeting and where do we go from here?
We can’t respond to every issue discussed, but we will comment on the main issues and where Tearfund has expertise. There are some ups and some downs, there is a lot of work still to do and we really need to make sure our government is aware that issues of justice are vitally important.
Climate Change
The G8 meeting made some important decisions around climate change, like making sure there will be international talks on a global agreement on tackling climate change beginning this year and ending in 2009, however there is still a long way to go.
We hoped that a global temperature rise limit would be agreed on, if a rise of 2° is passed, which could happen within 50 years, more than 250 million people will be short of food and a billion people will face water shortages. It’s really important that limits are set and agreed by 2009.
Read Tearfund’s new report, 2 degrees one chance.
HIV and AIDS
The G8 have promised to spend $60billion (US) on treating and preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS, TB, Malaria and strengthening healthcare globally over the coming years. Whilst this is a substantial amount of money, a date hasn’t been set to say when this would be achieved, the latest predictions from the UN show that $23billion will be needed for HIV alone by 2010.
The G8 will target 5million people for treatment, but estimates show between 10-16million people need help, less than half will be reached.
Important promises have been made to help pregnant women gain better access to HIV treatment, this is vital to reduce HIV transmission from mother to child. Up to 85% of children could be protected from the virus if their mothers receive this treatment.
Trade
There haven’t been any new promises regarding trade, the G8 did say they are still committed to support trade in Africa but there are still unjust trade rules that cause millions to be trapped in poverty.
Have a read of our ethical lifestyle pages, Fairtrade is a really easy way to support many of the world’s poor.
Water & Sanitation
This issue wasn’t mentioned once during the G8 summit, the G8 ignored calls to announce a global plan on water and sanitation. Every year four times as many children die from water related diseases compared to AIDS, this has to be on the agenda at the next G8 meeting in Japan.