Northern donor countries in the last 18 months have pledged billions of dollars in new financial commitments to fight climate change. More than a dozen new bilateral and multilateral environmental funding mechanisms have been proposed. While the provision of new financial resources to address the most urgent challenges of climate change is commendable, even if long overdue, the question arises if in the rush to do good the donor governments have really done well, writes Liane Schalatek from Washington, DC.
A new study commissioned by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and WWF, 'New Finance for Climate Change and the Environment' (see reference) describes an apparent ad hoc approach leading to a patchwork quilt of funding mechanisms which lack cohesion, coordination and risks an aggravation of dysfunction because of real and potential competition among the international lead agencies involved, specifically the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) ... ... this article comes up in Issue 5/Sep-Oct 2008 and is for subscribers only. For direct log in >>> click here.If you have no subscription >>> pick your option or >>>
The Superiority of the Financial Transaction Tax + Global Unemployment on Record Levels + New Beginning in European Development Policy? + Clean Development for the South
Global Economic Prospects for 2010 + Does Copenhagen Really Matter? + Quo Vadis, German Development Cooperation? + Mapping Social Protection in South Asia
The ITUC's Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights has documented a dramatic increase in the number of trade unionists murdered in 2009, with 101 killings - an increase of 30% over the previous year. The new Survey also reveals growing pressure on fundamental workers' rights around the world as the impact of the global economic crisis on employment deepened.
Barely in office, German development minister Dirk Niebel unambiguously mapped out the road: he wants to ensure that development cooperation once again focuses on German interests. This position provoked-probably intentionally-protest from the greater part of the German development community.
Latvia and Estonia show us what Greece may look forward to if it follows the advice it gets from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union. As noted previously, Latvia has experienced the worst two-year economic downturn on record, losing more than 25% of GDP, a recent study shows.
A group of economists has written an open letter to European policymakers criticising their collective failure to address the Greek crisis as a European crisis. It sets out the various causes of the Greek crisis, of which poor fiscal management by that country is only one, and points out the European dimension of the problems. It calls for decisive and coordinated policies by European and national actors to stem the crisis.
The evaluation of the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of the World Bank's support for gender issues between 2002 and 2008 is of significant relevance in the light of the Beijing+15 review and the launching of gender mainstreaming as crucial strategy for all institutions and organizations.