Oxfam makes its point to G8 - July 07, 2009
The G8 meeting in L’Alquila, Italy kicks off tomorrow, although exactly what the agenda will be is still being debated – and the Italian leadership criticised by some quarters. (For a round up of the trials and tribulations facing Silvio Berlusconi, try here.)
Ahead of the meeting, Oxfam has released a report about climate change and the world’s poorest people. The report, introduced by Diana Liverman, director of Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, lists a number of examples where climate change is affecting people’s lives already. “The reality of life under climate change is largely missing from the big debate,” the report says.
The headline of a press release that came out shortly after that to accompany the report outlines Oxfam’s opinion: “More than 3 million face death while Berlusconi and the G8 fiddle”.
The timing is, of course deliberate – the report has been put out to urge the G8 leaders to make serious decisions about tackling climate change. And the exposure has been widespread. The New York Times blog highlights the reports economic warning, which ought to hit home to the G8 leaders. Elsewhere around the world the report has received much coverage, in Canada the Globe and Mail, China’s Xinhua agency, the BBC, to name a few.
Nature News will be keeping you updated on science news from the G8. Watch this space.
Image: Soil in Uganda, James Akena/ OXFAM
