Statements by Antonio Hill, senior climate change policy advisor, the international development agency Oxfam, on the United Nations Climate Change Conference that has ended today in Bali, Indonesia.

“Bali has for the first time drawn up a roadmap for all countries to tackle climate change. But a handful of powerful countries have relegated the overwhelming scientific evidence to a footnote. The Bush Administration—dragging Canada, Japan and Russia in tow—has thrown away the compass and is trying to force us all to take the journey in a gas-guzzling 4×4, not the solar-powered speedster that the world urgently needs.”

“The Bali result sets the stage for addressing fairness—all countries will have to limit emissions. But rich countries will have to kick the carbon habit first and poor countries need to see them do it. A door has been held opened for the US to join. The danger is that developing countries will be forced through the same door.”

“Without a clear range for the global emissions cuts needed, this deal fails to keep us from the brink of exceeding 2°C of warming. Far from the negotiating halls of Bali, poor people waist-high in floods and children malnourished by failed harvests will demand to know, why did world leaders not see what we face and act urgently to stop it?”

“This outcome is a clear call to the citizens of the United States, Canada, Japan and Russia. Demand more. Only you can push your governments to deliver justice for poor people facing the next drought, flood or cyclone.”

“Developing countries came to Bali ready to talk, willing to listen, but also demanding to be heard. A handful of the richest nations—led by the Bush Administration—have rebuffed their will and sapped the strength of what Bali had to offer. It’s a deep insult to the world’s poorest people.”

“All the countries of the world are now united around delivering the Bali Roadmap by 2009, despite repeated US moves to hollow out these talks. But the level of ambition in the agreement still does not match the urgent need. The cost of not going far enough will be felt a long way from the air-conditioned halls of this luxury hotel. It will be paid in poor countries, by women and men forced to reap the failed harvests of our collective inaction.”

On Adaptation:

“At long last the UN climate talks have started to grapple with the devastating impacts climate change is already having on the world’s poorest people. Coping with these impacts comes at a price that rich polluters must pay. Under pressure from developing countries, Bali has delivered clear progress: a fund for adaptation is now in place and all countries agree that more money must be raised. But with estimated costs exceeding $50 billion annually, we now need to see rich countries put some serious money forward.”

With just three days left to the conference closes, Oxfam blitzed delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, with a special photographic exhibition and calendar called “It’s up to UNow”.

The photos, are messages from people in developing countries, who are already having to adapt and live with the impacts of climate change, as well as people from rich countries, who are taking personal action to reduce their contribution to climate change. Take a look at all of the photo messages on our Flickr profile.

Today, they are coming together to send a clear message to delegates at this conference, to do all they can to ensure that the interests of people living in poverty are put at the heart of any decisions and outcomes from Bali.

Bali is beautiful. This small tropical island, part of the Indonesian archipelago and perched off the East coast of Java is, for the next two weeks, playing host to a major UN climate change conference.

I am here for the first week of the conference with colleagues from the Global Call to Action Against Poverty – the world’s largest anti-poverty movement, with national platforms in more than 100 countries. I will try to send updates from the conference looking at both what is being discussed – but also to give a flavour of the conference itself.

There is no longer serious debate that humans are causing significant climatic changes, and that the poorest nations and people in the world are being hit first and hardest by these changes. So can Bali be the moment when negotiations truly begin on a crucial follow up to the Kyoto Protocol as well as on other vital areas including adaptation and deforestation.

My initial impression is, perhaps unhelpful, maybe. Let me explain.

First the conference itself. Planes carrying delegates (the irony is lost on few) come down low over the narrow strip of water that separates the island from Java, and land at Denpasar on the South tip of Bali. Those delegates are whisked away in gas-guzzling people carriers to the exclusive resort of Nusa Dua, home to countless five star hotels and to the main convention centre where the meeting will take place.
 
In luxurious surroundings, and under the hot Balinese sun, delegates waft from hotel to conference centre in taxis, bell boys carry suitcases into air-conditioned rooms, talk is of clause 4 of this and article 15 of that, Balinese security guards and police patrol the boundaries, and locals are kept firmly out. In such surroundings I fear the emergency of climate change is lost. Radical action suppressed by freshly fluffed pillows.
 
And yet, around 12,000 government officials, civil society activists, UN staff, private sector representatives and others are arriving over the weekend for the 13th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and there are, perhaps, a few important features that distinguish this meeting from its predecessors and give hope that decisions can be made.

The unity of dialogue, the role of civil society, and the timing of the conference are all playing a role to ensure that this conference is definitive in shaping global decisions.
 
Having recently been at the World Bank and IMF annual meetings, it is already clear that civil society is far more integrated into the process here than at the Bank and Fund. Here the negotiation halls are open to all accredited delegates, the civil society forum is running parallel to the main conference and dialogue is free and open between all sides.  This is highly significant as it means that decisions reached will have been done so in a relatively transparent manner and are therefore more likely to have the support of all key actors.
 
Not unrelated is the fact that this conference is historic in the unity role players are facing in the debate.  While in many areas of economics and politics, different interest groups are brought to the discussion table largely to protect their own interests in a largely zero sum game, with climate change, business, government, and civil society stand to lose, and lose in a drastic way, if there is not unified, quick action.
 
Finally, the timing of this conference is working in its favour.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has become a widely accepted body for scientific evidence on climate change allowing a vital agreed basis for dialogue on agreements and future treaties. It’s fourth assessment report released this year highlights the need for drastic action in the most startling terms yet.
The ravages of climate change are already being felt, from Bangladesh to New Orleans. There is now widespread public awareness about climate change, and the more it is affecting the lives of citizens, the more they are demanding action from decision makers.  With a political incentive to act together against climate change, Bali could just be the place where promises are finally turned into action.

For the sake of all of us, let’s hope so.

Oxfam is just one of the 35 development and environment organisations, who have worked together to produce “Up in Smoke” - a series of reports looking at the impacts of Climate Change on development.  The fifth report in the series has just been launched, with a foreword from R K Pachauri, PH.D, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and focuses on the Asia Pacific region.

 Countries in this region make up 60 percent of the world’s population, half of which live near coastal areas, making them very vulnerable to rises in the sea levels and other changes in climate. The report shows that the impacts of Climate Change are not just limited to the environment, but also have the capacity to reverse the gains, that many countries in the region have made in reducing poverty. Whilst looking at the challenges faced in the Asia-Pacific region, “Up in Smoke? Asia-Pacific” also looks at the positive measures being taken by governments, civil society and the public, to reduce the causes of climate change and to overcome its effects.

The effects of climate change are already being felt in some of the world’s poorest countries. Charlotte Sterrett, Oxfam Australia Southern Africa Program Officer, recently travelled to South Africa to see the impacts first-hand.

Thandi lifts up a handful of soil and watches as it disappears through her hands. Once rich and fertile and capable of producing bountiful crops, the soil is now bone dry.

“The ground used to be soft and easy to dig by hand; water was freely available just under the surface and food was plentiful; there was a lake nearby that provided fish for us to eat,” Thandi says. “But now the land is dry and hard and there is no water under the surface; even the lake has dried up.”

Thandi sits with a group of men and women under the shade of a large tree in Hluhluwe, a small town in KwaZulu-Natal province in the north-eastern corner of South Africa. Hluhluwe is a poor community struggling to contend with eight years of drought, high unemployment, rising poverty and some of the highest malaria and HIV rates in the country. Now, after years of fighting for access to adequate health care, food, clean water and sanitation and striving to reduce the effects of HIV and AIDS and conflict, the Hhuhluwe community is facing another battle — climate change.

This is what has brought me here. Oxfam Australia works with 10 partners in UMKhanyakude to help communities with high levels of HIV grow and obtain enough food to eat. While largely unaware of the term ‘climate change’, the local communities are concerned about the effects of prolonged drought and extremely low rainfall on their crops.

Understanding climate change

Hluhluwe is one of six communities I am visiting in UMKhanyakude to get a better understanding about the effects of climate change here — what impact it is having, what communities know about it and how they are adapting to it.

Climate change is an area of work Oxfam will be placing a greater focus on in coming years. The findings from this research in Hluhluwe will be incorporated into our current projects in UMKhanyakude and be shared with partners and Oxfam affiliates across the Southern African region.

As I talk with the men and women of Hluhluwe, the conversation quickly turns to the weather and how it has changed in the past 50 years. “The weather is much hotter and drier and more humid,” says one. “We can’t tell as much difference between summer and winter anymore,” says another. “We used to talk about when the drought would end; now we are thinking that maybe it is not going to end,” says another. “I don’t see how things are going to get better.”

Although the people of Hluhluwe have experienced droughts and floods for as long as they can remember, since the mid-1990s they have noticed a gradual drying of the land.

The ground was once so lush that people could use their hands to dig for water just below the surface. But those times have long gone. Even the rainwater tanks that were installed as a solution now stand dry. The local council sends a truck to fill up the tanks, but there is no delivery schedule, nor any guarantee the truck will return. While we are there a truck comes, but is only able to half-fill one tank. This water will only last a week or so.

How can a pair of fancy high heels increase aid? Well, simple. An Oxfam shop is taking the international aid agency's commitment to fundraising one step further by launching the first ever, exclusive shopping experience for transvestites, transsexuals and cross-dressers.

Outrageous as it may sound, it does add up. Selling 50 pairs of stilettos would be enough to purchase essential medicines for five villages while the money raised by selling 70 handbags would provide safe water for 1,000 people.

Shop manager Sally Stone and volunteers Michael McDowell and Mark Stanley dreamt up the idea as a way to sell oversized items being donated to the shop. A tongue-in-cheek window display a few months ago, where male mannequins wore frilly nighties with large silk flowers, caused such a positive reaction that Sally is sure the monthly events are going to be popular.

Take action and send Gordon Brown an email asking him to be bold and put the fight against poverty, climate change and its impact on the poorest, and a just foreign policy firmly on the table during his first 100 days as Prime Minister.

While Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown showed his personal commitment to the fight against poverty, by taking significant action in a number of areas.

But as Prime Minister, it is even more important that during his agenda-setting first 100 days in office, he outlines what his government will do to make a lasting difference, for the millions of poor people in developing countries whose daily lives are blighted by poverty, injustice and conflict.

You can Email Gordon Brown now.

I have great news for you today. We’ve just received word that Starbucks and Ethiopia have finalized an agreement that ends their trademark dispute and brings both sides together in partnership to help Ethiopian farmers. This agreement has the potential to give these farmers a fair share of the profits for their world-renowned coffees, and it’s what Oxfam has been pushing for since November.

More than 96,000 of our supporters around the world helped make this happen. Your emails, faxes, phone calls, postcards, and even in-person visits to Starbucks added strength to the call of Ethiopian farmers and brought global attention to this issue.

It seems that US farm policy gives the short end of the stick to poor and disenfranchised people in both the U.S. and the world. Today, Oxfam  released a study that shows that if the U.S. cut the billions it gives in cotton subsidies to a handful of farmers, millions of poor farmers in the cotton-producing regions of West Africa would see a boost to their incomes.

The G8 today announced their decision on “a commitment of $60 billion for AIDS, TB and malaria money.” But beneath the spin, dazzling the world with numbers, in fact they have just ‘reannounced’ their existing aid budgets, with only $3 billion in new money. This is miles off the 2005 promise of $50 billion new aid a year needed to halve poverty, and while important in the fight against HIV / AIDS, should be seen for what it is – a small step when we need a big leap.