UN ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA HOSTS CLIMATE CHANGE MEETING

Experts, government ministers and senior United Nations officials will focus on combating climate change in Africa, including measures for adaptation and mitigation and financial resources and investment, at a forum due to take place tomorrow in Addis Ababa.

Around 100 experts and stakeholders from both Africa and member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are expected to gather in the Ethiopian capital for the special session of the Africa Partnership Forum.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), which is hosting the special session, says it is aimed at building a broad coalition around Africa's concerns and expectations, in the run-up to the Copenhagen meeting of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in December, where negotiations are set to conclude on a new agreement for curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

The special session will be chaired by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi. Environment ministers from Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Cameroon, Sudan, Kenya, Mozambique and Algeria are expected to attend.
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AGRICULTURE WEATHERING ECONOMIC CRISIS BETTER THAN OTHER SECTORS: UN-BACKED REPORT

Since food is a basic necessity, the agriculture sector has taken less of a hit than other industries as a result of the current economic crisis, according to a new report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

So long as the global economy begins its recovery within the next two to three years, the "Agriculture Outlook 2009-2018" – jointly released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – says that drops in agricultural prices and in the production and consumption of farm goods will likely be moderate.

The recession will dampen food prices, in turn easing pressure on cash-strapped consumers, it added.

While prices have fallen from their record highs in 2008, they are still high in many countries, and the new report projected that the prices of all farm commodities, except for beef and pork, will probably not fall back to their pre-2007-2008 averages.

Crops are estimated to cost 10-20 per cent more in the next decade, when adjusted for inflation, compared with the average for the 1996-2006 period, while vegetable oil prices are expected to surge 30 per cent.

The FAO-OECD study also said that the main forces underpinning agricultural commodity prices and markets over the medium-term are an expected economic recovery, renewed food demand growth on the part of developing countries and the emerging biofuel markets.

But it cautioned that extreme price volatility, as experienced last year, could occur again, given that commodity prices are increasingly tied to oil and energy costs, with environmental experts cautioning of erratic weather conditions.

The report points to access – and not availability – as a longer-term problem, stressing that poverty reduction and economic growth will be a large part of the solution.

It also called on governments to boost domestic agricultural development through infrastructure investment and incentivizing sustainable soil and water use, among other targeted policies.
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Financial Crisis To Leave 'Permanent Scars' On Economies: OECD Secretary-General.

"The current financial crisis is going to leave 'permanent scars' and government leaders must prepare to face new realities such as higher unemployment level and lack of credit, the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Monday [in an interview with Canadian CTV]. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria, in Montreal for the 15th annual International Economic Forum of the Americas, said the recession has been so widespread that it will likely bring about new realities...." [Xinhua/Factiva]

AFP adds that "... 'We may find in the future that unemployment remains at a higher level than we had before,' Gurria said.... Moreover, lack of credit and investment, particularly in research and development, will block growth in several countries, he added...." [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

In related news, EFE writes that "...talking about Latin America, Gurria indicated that 'the region is feeling the consequences of a problem that it did not create and a situation that originated in the industrialized countries.'...

He added, 'It is not that the region must change policies but that it needs support so that it can be compensated for the enormous damage it has suffered without guilt. This is the reality for most of the developing countries.'..." [EFE/Factiva]

Top Economies Signal Recession May Be Easing: OECD

"Leading economies are showing fragile signs that the economic crisis driving recession in many countries may be easing or have reached a low point, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Monday on the basis of April data. But the damaging effects of the global crisis are still worsening in many emerging economies, the OECD said.... Countries outside the 30-member OECD group 'still face deteriorating conditions, with the exception of China and India, where tentative signs of a trough have also emerged.'..." [Agence France Presse (6/8)/Factiva]

Dow Jones adds that "...the figures continue to point to a 'possible trough' for most developed economies as a whole, with the Composite Leading Indicator (CLI) for the OECD's 30 members rising for a second straight month to 93.2 in April from 92.7 in March.... Among the large developing economies, China once again showed the clearest signs of revival, with its leading indicator rising to 94.3 from 93.4. The leading indicators for India also rose in April to 93.9 from 93.5 in the previous month. Indicators for Brazil and Russia continued to fall, however...." [Dow Jones (6/8)/Factiva]

Economic Crisis Heightens Africa's Conflict Tensions: OECD.

"The global economic crisis has heightened the risk that 'tensions could explode' in Africa, where growth will be slashed this year because of recession in rich nations, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned Monday. 'There are signs of increasing political tension that cannot be ignored,' said a report by OECD, African Development Bank (AfDB) and UN Economic Commission for Africa which said the continent's growth would be cut to 2.8 percent this year after 5.7 percent in 2008...." [Agence France Press (5/11)/Factiva]

Reuters adds that "...budget deficits across the region will balloon as falling commodity prices and demand from Western countries take their toll, the African Economic Outlook 2009 said, forecasting a budget deficit of 5.5 percent of output, which compares with a surplus of 3.4 percent seen in the previous annual study.... 'Africa has been hit and it has been hit hardest,' AfDB chief economist Louis Kasekende told journalists at the bank's annual meeting, held this year in the Senegalese capital. He called on African governments to resist the temptation to resort to protectionist measures as they attempt to support ailing economies...." [Reuters (5/10)/Factiva]

UN ENVIRONMENT CHIEF CALLS ON GOVERNMENTS TO INVEST IN ‘NEW GREEN DEAL’

The head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has called on governments to invest a significant amount of their $3 trillion-worth of stimulus packages in a new "green economy" to defeat the crises facing the world.

Governments must play their part in shaping and focusing markets to deliver long-term environmental benefits if the world is to surmount the current food, fuel, financial and economic crises it faces, said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner in a speech at Tel Aviv University yesterday.

Mr. Steiner told the audience that time and again resource-efficient, low-carbon and environmentally friendly products and processes have failed to make their way out of research laboratories. "The market failed to read the writing on the wall or see the climate and energy security street signs coming up fast on the international highway."

He noted that the oil crisis of the late 1970s and early 1980s saw around $1 billion of investment into research and development in solar powered energy halving the cost per unit of electricity, not enough for commercialization.

"The oil price dropped and so did widespread enthusiasm for solar power. Only now are generation prices beginning to fall towards competitiveness [but] we have wasted nearly three precious decades," he added.

He noted, however, a UNEP Policy Brief for a Global Green New Deal, which highlights the benefits of investing a significant amount of proposed government economic stimulus money on five key sectors from renewable energy to sustainable transport.

"The question now is how will the around $3 trillion-worth of stimulus packages be spent-on the old brown economy or a new green one that might set the stage for a truly sustainable century?" asked Mr. Steiner.

The Brief – developed with economists, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) among others – spotlights how some economies, including China, Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom, have already committed part of their stimulus packages to green investments.

Mr. Steiner stressed that investing 1 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) into five key sectors could be key to a "Global Green New Deal."

These areas include raising the energy efficiency of old and new buildings, as well as investing in renewable energies including wind, solar, geothermal and biomass.
The three other areas are sustainable transport including hybrid vehicles; high-speed rail and bus rapid transit systems; the planet's ecological infrastructure including freshwaters, forests, soils and coral reefs; and sustainable agriculture including organic production.

"The Policy Brief also calls for a range of specific measures aimed at assisting poorer countries to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and green their economies," noted Mr. Steiner.

The measures include an expansion of microcredit schemes for clean energy, reform of subsidies from fossil fuels to fisheries and the greening of overseas development aid, he said.

"Japan, which has already launched a multi-billion yen green stimulus package for its economy, has just announced a $5 billion loan fund for developing economies seeking to boost their renewable energy sector," he pointed out.
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