Debt Cancellation

Developing Countries Need Aid; Tearfund, a Christian aid agency, called for all developed countries to provide at least $150 billion a year to developing countries with “no strings attached” to help them cope with climate change.

“Anything less will severely weaken relations between rich and poor nations and trigger a breakdown in trust that will block progress towards a strong and fair climate deal,” Tearfund said.

Paul Cook, Tearfund Advocacy Director said, “What part of the word urgency do G8 leaders not understand? Adequate finance is the sticking point currently deadlocking negotiations and so far the group has failed to put their money where their mouths are.

” Last February The Guardian reported that developing countries received less than 10 percent of the aid promised to them by developed countries to help them adapt to climate change. The richest countries in the world pledged almost $18 billion in aid in the last seven years, but less than $0.9 billion was disbursed to developing countries.

The UN has called for $50 to $70 billion a year in aid for developing countries. Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) said, “Contributions to funds have been disappointingly low and the least developed countries have received very little. Without significant finance you will not get developing country engagement [in negotiations]. Funding is key to unlocking an outcome for the talks.”

Stop Vulture Fund Act!: For further information about vulture funds and the legislation introduced to stop this heinous practice see http://www.jubileeusa.org/get-active/take-action.html, see stop Vultures Fund and click on image. Cosponsors in the House are needed. This action is an implementation of the 2007 Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) Assembly Resolution calling for support of the Jubilee Act to cancel debts of improvised countries.